Dragon of the East
by bearhow
Summary: Trouble is brewing in Steele City. A murder mystery that will lead Bumble Bee, Terra, Wonder Girl, and the troubled Aqualad down unknown paths as they fight to discover who killed the mayors young daughter, and why.
1. On my planet

**Im back! hopefully everyone had a safe, family filled, and fun holiday season. With New Years coming up, i hope everyone has some good goals for the new year. Ive started on a few of mine, like distancing myself from negativity so i dont catch it. IVe hurt a lot of people lately and im doing my best to make sure i dont do it again.**

 **anyways. welcome to my next story. hopefully youll enjoy this one as much as i will.**

 **but youll have to read it first.**

 **ON with the show!**

 **Chapter 1: "On my Planet."**

 **Tampa Florida**

Jane Doe. That's what the world would forever know her as. A nameless, faceless girl with no family and no friends.

But that wasn't true.

She had a family. Well, there was a man that made love to a woman who gave birth to her. Supposedly that made them her parents, but they only loved what she could do for them, but couldn't remember any actual love. Seeing her life flashing before her eyes as it came to a close, she remembered with perfect clarity, in her sixteen years, she was only loved by two people. Her grandparents. Grandparents that, like everything else, had left her alone.

That being the case, was her new circumstances a bad thing?

Annabelle examined her surroundings. She had never been in one of these places before, but she had seen them on TV. The classic setting of an empty morgue. Walls lined with metal doors, cutting instruments placed on metal tables, and a single desk littered with papers. She looked away from the setting and glanced down at the corpse laying on the metal slab that strangely resembled herself. Except the young woman before her was bloodied and mangled from the car that had hit her, while she appeared unharmed.

"Th-this is a dream," she whispered. "This can't be real."

"I'm sorry sweetie, but it is real."

Jumping, Annabelle turned around to see another young woman, no older than herself, with dark rimmed glasses and the warmest smile she had ever seen, approach her from the shadows. Annabelle should have been frightened, but she felt no fear for this person, just curiosity.

"Wh-who are you?" Annabelle asked.

She smiled again. "My friends call me Liz, and I'm here because you passed from your former life."

Annabelle looked back at her body, feelings of disbelief and confusion swirling inside of her, but also, strangely, contentment.

Liz approached her, putting a comforting hand onto her shoulder. "I'm sorry—"

"Don't be." Annabelle shrugged away Liz's hand. "It's just not fair. Those . . . People," she snarled referring to her parents. "They abuse, beat, and use me and this is what happens to me? What about them? They just get away with what they've done?"

Liz's brows angled in pity for the young girl. "I know it doesn't seem fair, but if it makes you feel any better, you will never see them again." Annabelle tilted her head in confusion causing Liz to smirk knowingly. "After what they've done in their lives, not just to you, but everyone they've come across, seats are reserved for them in the fires of damnation. The current ruler has a thing against child abusers and makes sure they're punished severely in his kingdom."

Annabelle never knew much about religion, but she knew the basics. When your bad, you go to hell. When your good, you go to heaven. Or something like that.

"You on the other hand," Liz continued, "have something wonderful waiting for you." Liz gestured to the far end of the morgue where a large white circle formed seemingly out of nowhere, but didn't disturb the area around them. "The two people in this world you meant the most too, they're expecting you."

 _Two people?_ Annabelle thought. "My grandparents?" Liz nodded and stepped aside so Annabelle can journey through the vortex.

With tears in her eyes, Annabelle prepares to step through when the vortex suddenly began to spark and shrink as if it was some bizarre malfunction.

She stepped back. "Is it supposed to do that?"

Liz stood beside her, looking worriedly at the swirling light. "No. It's not. Quickly, go hide." Not knowing what else to do, Annabelle ran for cover behind a work desk, but kept her eyes on the happenings before her.

From the white vortex emerged a humanoid mass of light without discernible features, but maintained the shape of a person. Liz rolled her eyes at the mass, as if seeing something that Annabelle couldn't.

She folded her arms and narrowed her eyes from behind her glasses, glaring at the mass before her. "What's the meaning of this angel? I'm working here."

To Annabelle's shock, a voice began to echo from the mass. Female and young. "First off, my name is Sariah, and secondly this is between me and the girl. I am in need of comendereing her vessel."

Liz's arms fell to her sides and her mouth hung open disgusted shock. "Are you… but… NO! Even a young angel knows that inhabiting a vessel unoccupied by a human soul is forbidden. To do so is an abomination."

"I understand," the angel said, "but this is what the humans call, 'desperate times'." Liz's features shifted to confused curiosity. "You see, over the past, uh, six Earth months, souls have been vanishing from the halls of heaven. As a soul keeper it is my job to find out who is pilfering them."

"But what does that have to do with me?"

Startled, Liz looked down at Annabelle who had snuck up beside her. "This angel needs your vessel to walk amongst the humans." Liz responded. "Even though taking a vessel unoccupied by a human is an affront to the lord." Liz narrowed her eyes angrily at Sariah. "They weren't given physical forms for a reason."

"Why?" Annabelle looked back at her body. "It's not like I'm using it."

"Angels were not created to have bodies of flesh and blood," Sariah responded. "Unless commanded by the lord. Yes, I am acting on my own, but no one in heaven is taking me seriously, but I can assure you. Souls have gone missing, and I must find out who is behind it." The mass of human shaped light approaches Annabelle. "I must ask permission to inhabit your body which is why I'm here now. Before you move on, I'd like to take possession of your vessel."

Annabelle looked at her body then at Liz. "Can she do that?"

Liz shrugged a shoulder. "Technically she is abiding the laws of angels taking vessels. Still it is frowned upon."

Annabelle looked back at Sariah. "These souls that have gone missing, do they have loved ones over there?"

"Yes indeed. You'll be helping—"

"Yes." Both Sariah and Liz stared in disbelief. "What? Like I said, I'm not using it and you need it to help people. So go for it."

The mass made a bowing motion. "Thank you. I will use it well."

Before Sariah could do anything else, Liz stood in front of her. "You are only allowed to use this body for business only. Not for pleasure."

"I understand, Reaper. Believe me, I only have my mission." With those words, Sariah vanished from sight, leaving the pair alone.

"Well. That doesn't happen often." Liz sighed. "Anyways. Where were we?"

Annabelle smiled. "I was moving on?"

Liz waved her hand to reveal the vortex once again. "Indeed you were."

— _ **:0:—**_

Bones knit themselves back together. Flesh resealed itself. Color returned to the skin. Sariah took in a deep breath when her eyes flew open, but instead of the glassy blank look of death, they took on a golden tint. She shot upright then quickly fell back down when a wave of dizziness slammed into her. It was her first time in human flesh, bone and blood and apparently it was going to take some getting used too.

Taking it slowly, she got down from the metal slab and moved to a nearby mirror. She gingerly slid her hands along the flesh of her new form, taking in the odd texture of the skin. They went to her head, picking at the black, short curly lucks of her hair before sliding down her face. The form was young, but was suitable for her needs. It was small and thin making her unsure if it was campable containing an angelic presence.

"It'll have to do." She said aloud. With her mission in mind, She turned around to leave the morgue, but came face to face with the chubby, hairy faced mortician here for the dead girls body.

He stared at her like a deer in headlights, bottom jaw on the floor and eyes as wide as saucers.

She chuckled nervously before raising her hand. "Hello. I am Sariah. An angel of the lord." Like a tree being cut down, he fell to the ground with a hard thud. "Hm. I was sure 'hello' was the preferred greeting of humans." She shrugged it off and moved to exit the morgue, but not before catching herself in the mirror. "I probably need some clothing."

— _ **:0:—**_

 **Jump City. Two months later.**

Zombies had more movement then the sluggish team of superheroes making their way to the basement of Titans Tower. Early morning training sessions were the norm for the team, but having a late night bank heist the night before made for waking up this early a chore.

With Robin leading the way, Beast Boy let out a large yawn. "I thought you said we'd be able to sleep in." He played with the skin under his eyes. "I need my beauty sleep."

Starfire's younger brother, Wildfire, nodded his head in agreement. "I'll admit, as much as I enjoy exercising my Tameranean power, I would much rather be resting from last nights excursion."

Robin looked over his shoulder with a knowing smirk, but also a sense of pride for the young Titan. Over the past few weeks, and under his sisters training, Wildfire had really grown into his powers of flight and using his starbolts. "And here I thought you guys would be excited to see what Cyborg has been working on down here."

Beast Boy and Wildfire perked up slightly. The past two months Cyborg, Sarah Simms, and his father Silas had been working on something in the basement of the tower and every time someone had tried to sneak a peek they were quickly kicked out. As soon as they had lifted their heads, they quickly hung from their shoulders when exhaustion settled over them again.

Holding up the rear of the team was Drake, and while annoyed, he wasn't as tired looking as the others. Beast Boy looked over his shoulder with sagging eyelids. "Why aren't you exhausted?"

Drake looked at him weirdly. "I got two full hours." Beast Boy shook his head, muttering under his breath about Drake being a freak of nature, but his comment was shrugged off.

Robin, however, had a small bounce to his step as he walked. "Well I'm excited."

Beast Boy groaned. "Awe man. That probably means it has something to do with training."

Coming up to the large doors of the basement they were surprised to see the other, younger Titan, Jacqueline, waiting for them. Beast Boy frowned seeing that she was still dressed in her uniform, a uniform she had made with pieces of Ravens old leotards. His girlfriend said it was fine, but Ravens scent still lingered, making him miss her so much more. Jacqueline had cut the sleeves of the leotard so that it only covered her forearms leaving her shoulders and biceps bare with hip-cut leggings with her hips exposed. On her feet rested a pair of Ravens boots.

To make it hers though, she colored it a light blue sprinkled with snowflakes. The team was still wondering how "clothes making" were apart of her ice based magic.

"Jacqueline? What are you doing here?" Robin asked.

"And awake?" Wildfire added.

She shrugged. "Adrenaline was still pumping I guess."

"No kidding." Beast Boy frowned, "Since she basically took out those bank robbers herself."

Jacqueline laughed. "And here I thought superhero work was hard."

"Oh yeah," Beast Boy challenged. "Well wait till we face Adonis. Oh wait he's a vegetable. How 'bout Dr Li—no he's gone too. The H.I.V.E.? Haven't seen them in a while. Huh. Where is everyone?"

Robin shook his head at Beast Boys comments while doing a quick head count. "We're missing Rose and Starfire."

Wildfire lifted his hand. "I believe she prefers to be called 'Ravager' now."

Robin shouldered past him in a huff. "Whatever she wants to be called, she's supposed to be here."

"Easy," Drake caught him by the arm as he tried to leave, "cut her some slack."

Robin ripped his arm away. "I have been. Ever since she told us about Eddie, and I get it, it sucks, but this is to much. She misses training with the team, she's out all night doing god knows what, and she's started smoking. You can't tell me either of you are okay with that?" He looked from Drake, to Jacqueline to Beast Boy, the members with the more sensitive senses.

"Yeah it sucks, but come on dude. How would you feel if Starfire sold her soul, died, and came back to be working with the bad guy."

Drake angled his head in Beast Boy's direction. "We all deal in different ways. Hers just happens to be a bit more destructive than we'd like. But going in there acting like her dad isn't going to help anything."

Robin sighed pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers, but he continued walking away from his team.

"Where are you going?" Wildfire asked.

"To find out where Starfire is." He called over his shoulder and disappeared back into the tower.

"Hopefully that's all he does." Beast Boy muttered. He yawned, stretched out his body before leaning against the wall and sliding into a seated position. "Wake me up when he—"

The doors to the basement slid open so that Cyborg could poke his head out. He counted the heads and made a puzzled face. "Wheres Rob, Star and Rose?"

Beast Boy exhaled as his head hit the wall. "Rose is a no show, and Rob went to go get Starfire."

Cyborg "hm'd" and shrugged. "Alright then we'll just get started without them." He stood aside so the remaining Titans could step inside the dark basement.

"Sweet," Jacqueline called out excitedly, "you made a dark room in a basement."

With his new chest puffed out, he shook his head with a chuckle. "Not even close, lil lady." He clapped his hands lighting up the dome shaped area they found themselves in. Computer monitors lined the walls as well a few control panels underneath a large remote viewing area looking over them. "Wave guys." Looking at the viewing deck, both Silas and Sarah waved through the windows. Cyborg threw out his arms. "Welcome to the newest Titan training facility!"

Heads up, and eyes wide the Titans examined the sleek and wide dome.

"Forgive me Cyborg, but what makes this any different from our usual training room?" Wildfire asked.

Cyborg grinned mischievously. "Let me show you." He tapped the side of his head that opened a communication line between him and Silas in the viewing deck. "You ready to test drive up in this piece?"

There was a click, followed by Silas's voice over a PA system. "Copy that." He typed away on the keypad until green lights lit the dome. Laser beams focused on one particular area of the arena forming the hologram of a person. The hologram solidified until it took the shape of a Sladebot.

On intercom from the viewing deck clicked on allowing Sarah to speak to the Titans. "We've integrated the latest in hologram technology, so now you'll be able to train against actual bad guys instead of each other."

"PFFT!" Beast Boy scoffed, "Yeah right." He approached the still hologram. "It's just a hologram. Ain't gonna hurt ya."

Cyborg cast a glance up at Sarah, who knowingly smiled and typed a few commands. The sladebot hologram swung its leg, kicking Beast Boy in the stomach and sending him flying into the wall with a slam. Sliding to the ground in a daze, the other Titans stood over him.

"Well, I like it so far." Drake smirked.

"So who's ready?" Cyborg clapped his hands together, creating an entire sladebot army for them to do battle against.

— _ **:0:—**_

He fought with himself not to go bursting through Roses door and drag her out for training with the others. As much as he hated to admit it, they were right. Acting like her parent would only make things worse. It took him back to his days with Batman and how they're relationship was much better when he was treated like a partner and not a sidekick. For now he'd have to just leave her be and let her deal.

Starfire however was another story. Why wasn't she at training? Last night at the back robbery she did seem distracted, but it was a routine mission, nothing that would make her sleep in?

 _Well I did say everyone could._ He thought to himself. _But that was before Cyborg told me the new training room was ready. Ugh._

Berating himself he came to her door and knocked. "Hey Star it's me. Sorry to spring this on ya, but Cyborg has a surprise waiting for us—" suddenly her door slid open catching him off guard. "Uh, okay?" Taking a step inside he was further confused and intrigued to see candles lit in the darkened room.

"Starfire?"

"Yes?" The low, sultry sound of her voice drew him to the darkened corner of her room where she was concealed in shadow. He was about to ask her what she was doing, but all thought and reason left him when she floated into the light.

Seeing his slack expression she did a twirl in the air showing off the thin light magenta teddy she was wearing. "Is this pleasing to your eyes?"

It would be difficult to answer without any breath, but his eyes were fixed on her exposed flesh glowing in the candle light. She giggled, figuring she had done well in alluring him. Floating towards him, she took him by the hands and led him towards her bed.

Once he started moving, some resemblance of speech found its way to his mouth.

"S-S-Star? Wh-What are—"

His voice trailed off when she put his finger to his lips. "Robin. We have been the together for much of the time now, and best friends before that. On my planet this would be the time for us to consummate our relationship."

His mouth fell to the floor as his eyes went as wide as hubcaps. "Star? A-are you sure?"

Her fingers slid underneath the leather of his mask and gently removed it so that she was looking into his sky blue eyes. "Indeed." Her lips met his causing him to completely forget everything he had planned for the morning.

 **As and FYI, we wont see the angel Sariah again till much later. next chapter well meet an OC whom ive been devloping as long as Drake and im super excited for you all to meet him.**

 **till then.**


	2. Ethan Conners

**Finally! i had to cut some stuff to make all this make sense but hopfeully no one will notice anything missing.**

 **anyways, yes this chapter was hard and theres a lot going on, so pay attention now.**

 **on with thr show**

 **Chapter 2: Ethan Connors**

Ravens jaw hit the floor. " _Wow. I mean, it's about time, but, wow. And how long has this been going on?"_

Beast Boy shrugged. "Couple of weeks I think?"

" _And they just came out and told you guys they've been sleeping together?"_

He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Well, not exactly."

She knew her boyfriend well, and with a heavy sigh and an eye roll asked the question, " _What did you do?"_

He held his hand to his chest and gaped at her. "I am appalled that you think I had anything to do with—well it's not my fault I can smell the hormones a mile away. Human girls is one thing, but Starfire is like a beacon of sex ya know."

" _Can't say that I do."_ She droned, then it appeared that something occurred to her. " _Wait does that mean you can smell when it's her time of the month, ovulating…. oh god and … me?"_ He bit his lip, giving her the answer she needed.

"If it makes you feel any better it doesn't smell bad or anything." With her cheeks as red as ripe tomatoes she hurriedly looked around her bedroom back in San Francisco to make sure her family wasn't eavesdropping. He cleared his throat. "So any idea when you'll be back."

Her face was still a faint shade of red, but she was thankful for the subject change. " _It's looking like xI'll be able to come home much sooner than I thought. Once I explained to Constantine that me without my powers is sort of a bad thing, he went right to work to try and get my sentence commuted."_

He heaved a sigh of relief and happiness, rubbing the sides of the computer screen, wishing that could hold her instead. "I wish you could come back now. Hey how about I try to kill Cy, that should work."

Her face went blank. " _Don't joke about that. Ever."_

He held up his hands. "Your right. Bad time. On the plus side, he's doing fine. Definitely doing a lot of work on the tower with his dad and especially Sarah."

" _It's about time. He needs someone in his life. What about Ryand'r, Drake and Jacqueline."_

He shrugged. "Ryand'r's good. Learning fast on how to be a hero. Drake seems grumpier than usual, and Jack Frost is exactly like him. You almost need a red sticker on the real Drake to tell them apart."

" _I know. Now there's two."_

He laughed. "I said the same thing! Ya know I love these guys, but seeing Rob and Star, and even Cy, moving on with things makes me wonder if I should get my own place or something."

She let out a dry laugh and an eye roll. " _Oh yes indeed. Floor to ceiling Television and video games to last you a lifetime."_

He chuckled. "Don't forget a walk in pantry with tea as far as the eye can see."

Her face went serious again, this time with alarm. " _Uh, what do you mean by that?"_

He shuffled his shoulders as if trying to build his nerve. "Well, uh, you know, we ain't gonna be Titans forever, and it's getting crowded here. I've got money saved, so maybe, when you get back, we could, I dunno, look for a place."

She was silent, her mouth open slightly. " _Like…. together?"_

He swallowed a basketball that had grown in his throat. "Well, yes."

— _ **:0:—**_

"Yes together!" Beast Boy shouted to the ceiling, "her answer? She'll 'think about it'. What the heck is that supposed to mean? I love her, she loves me, this should be a no brainer, the next step in our relationship. Hell I promised her an entire pantry for her tea. That should have sealed the the deal!... are you even listening?!"

The dragon knight had been scribbling onto a piece of paper against the wall of his room with his back towards him. "Well I'm trying not to, but some of it's still getting through."

"Dude! I'm having an extraterrestrial crisis here, your supposed to be my bro!"

Drake rolled his eyes. "Lucky me. Why aren't you pestering Cyborg?"

Beast Boy flopped onto the couch overlooking the enormous window. "He's either fixing the tower, with his dad or Sarah." He wiped away a fake year. "I'm just glad I have a bro like you." Once again, an eye roll. "But am I wrong here? Why wouldn't she want to move in with me. Get our own awesome place wherever she wants, what's not to like about that?"

Drake finished writing on his piece of paper and tacked it into the wall. Frustrated with his questions, and presence, he turned to face him. "Contrary to the belief held by many, myself included, your not an idiot. Ask yourself if Raven is the kind of person that goes for huge, life changing gestures like that?"

He sputtered, pathetically trying to defend his decision, but ultimately heaved a long sigh. "But, we love each other."

"I don't doubt that. All I'm saying is that you can't just throw something like that onto Raven. Hell you two haven't even slept together."

"Hey! We've slept together plenty—"

"SEX you dingbat."

"...oh. Yeah we haven't done that."

Drake grabbed fistfuls if his hair and tugged slightly. "Just give her time is all. You're impulsive and rarely think before you act, she's methodical and slow, so just slow down. I know you know this."

He sighed again, slinking deeper into the couch. "Yeah I do. I just don't wanna be without her again. I've missed her like crazy."

Drake placed his hand on his shoulder sympathetically. "We've all been there man, and yeah it sucks, but you'll make it." He moved to the door talking over his shoulder. "If nothing else you can say that you have a team that cares about you. Now get the hell out."

He laughed, but figured he didn't want to be burnt alive and decided to listen to him. "Alright, but when I do move out your going to miss—" The door slid shut on his face finally giving Drake peace and quiet.

— _ **:0:—**_

 **Steele City**

The Titans East leader, Bumble Bee, buzzed her way to the common room of her tower heading for the main computer counsel. Typing a few commands she activated the P.A. System throughout the tower.

"Calling Titans East, get your butts to the common room. I've got something to tell y'all."

Once her announcement was made, she leaned against the computers and let out a long breath. What she had to tell her team would very much change the status of the Titans in Steele city, and likely leave them homeless.

One by one, each member of her team made their way to the common room. Terra was first, followed by Wonder girl and lastly Kid Flash.

"How is it your last, Kid?" Bumble Bee arched a brow.

Kid Flash simply shrugged. "Well I had to get dressed. Unless you want me to come in nothing but my undies."

"No thanks," She held up her hand, "I'm good." She took a quick head count and sighed with frustration. "Anyone know where Aqualad is?"

Her team exchanged glances before individually shrugging. "Since he's not here," Terra began, "anyone else notice how much of a dick he's been lately?"

"Yup," Bumble Bee answer was instant, "don't even remind me how he almost got me killed on our last mission."

"Come on guys," Kid Flash cut in, "he's been through a lot. Dying, coming back, it's gotta take a lot out of a guy."

"That excuse can only last him so long," Wonder girl scowled, "he's my friend too, but I also can see how he has changed."

It was clear on Kid Flash's face that he wanted to stand by his friend, but ultimately kept his mouth shut seeing as how he couldn't argue with them.

"Okay, he's changed, but what are we gonna do about it?" He asked.

All eyes went to Bumble Bee. Seeing as how she was the leader of their team, surely she had all the answers, however they only got a blank stare in return.

"I want to find out what's up with him, I do, but I've had other things going on. Which is why I've called y'all here." She took a deep breath and released it slowly. "Tonight, Mayor Rasmussen is passing that Metahuman bill."

There was silence for a moment until Kid Flash scoffed. "Why didn't we fight harder against it."

"Pfft. Why should we?" Terra exclaimed. "This law will keep the meta psychos we fight against in prison much longer then simply walking out con a technicality."

"Sure, but at what cost?" His rising tone got everyone's attention. "This law their trying to put together is going to brand on Metahuman criminals. Doesn't that sound familiar to anyone?"

"It's completely different." Bumble Bee was rubbing her forehead in exasperation from the conversation. "This new law will help create new ones so that Metahumans will stop simply going in and out of prison. It's difficult to put someone on trial when they don't technically qualify as 'human' most of the time."

"This way innocent people will stop getting caught in the crossfire of our battles." Terra added.

"That's all well and good, but today it starts with criminals, tomorrow it could be us being branded. What have we done to deserve that? Just help people." Noticing Wonder girl had been silent, he turned to her. "Donna, your with me right?"

She narrowed her eyes. "I may have spent much of my life on Themyscira, but I am well aware of this world's tendencies to repeat its history. However I can't ignore the fact that, like Terra, I've seen the fallout our battles have, and if I see a chance to lesson that, I must take it."

He scoffed again, then seemed to remember something. "Batman once said that criminals don't always need prison, they need help. Prisons aren't really known for their rehabilitation efforts."

The group went silent until Bumble Bee cleared her throat. "Either way, it's being signed tonight and the mayor has requested that we join In case anyone is against this if you know what I mean."

They looked at her oddly. "I wasn't aware we were in his good graces?"

"Mayor Rasmussen has always liked us, even before we saved his wife and daughter last year." Terra commented, "plus he's just a good guy. It's everyone else who isn't a fan of us."

"Ah yes. The big four." Kid Flash rolled his eyes.

Wonder girl shook her head. "I am still unclear as to why those men are so important."

"Welcome to a man's world." Bumble bee grinned sarcastically. "Basically they're the four most powerful people in Steele City. Mayor Rasmussen and his BFF John Delehart who owns half of the city. You got the District Attorney, Alister Walker, and the police commissioner, William Thornton."

"Ah yes." Wonder girl rolled her eyes. "A man's world indeed."

"Question," Kid Flash raised a finger, "What happens to us when things get quiet Metahuman wise."

Once again, all eyes on Bumble Bee. "That's a bridge we'll cross when we get there. But uh, keep your options open. Heck, maybe you can join Jinx up at Titans North."

His head hung backwards so he could look up at the ceiling in a stary eyed daze. "Man I miss her. Why did she have to take that leadership position of the North?"

Bumble Bee was already making her way out of the common room, but managed to put a hand on his shoulder. "It's not like you can't zip over and see her whenever you want." As if he had been waiting for permission, he bolted from the common room. "Be back before seven!" She shook her head, but clearly began to be weighed down when thinking of her next task. "So who wants to check on Aqualad with me?"

— _ **:0:—**_

Bumble Bee, along with Wonder Girl, stood outside Aqualads bedroom door, both hesitant, and somewhat nervous, to find what was on the other side. Wonder girl had her arms folded and eyes narrowed, and with a curt nod to her team leader told her to open the door. Remembering that she was the "tough as nails" leader of the Titans East, Bumble Bee at her face into a steely glare and pounded on his door.

"Aqualad! It's Bee!" Clattering broke the silence from his room, but still took a while for the door to finally open.

Aqualad peered from the crack in his door with a weary smile. Even though he appeared tired, he still held on to his handsome and tanned features, especially a bright white toothed smile. He leaned against the doorframe blocking them from seeing into his room.

"Hey Bee. Donna. What's up?"

 _Geez. He sounds like he hadn't slept in days._ "Tonight is the mayor's signing of the metahuman bill. You need to make sure your there."

He slapped his hand over his face. "Awe man is that tonight? I completely forgot."

She folded her arms. "Well good thing I reminded you then. Make sure your ready—"

"Sorry Bee, I won't be able to make it. I'm just so beat. From training, and there was a thing last night, I don't think I'll be able to make it."

Wonder girl scoffed. "'A thing'? Another big party in the city?"

Aqualad chuckled to himself as he remembered the previous evening. "Something like that."

Wonder Girl was ready to start screaming when they heard more rustling coming from his room.

"Aqualad," someone sang, "I'm getting lonely."

Aqualad paled, pursing his lips as soon as he heard the voice, Wonder Girl however stormed past him and turned on the lights. The redhead on his bed squealed in shock, covered herself with the bedsheet and moved away as if she was about to be attacked.

With a stern voice, Wonder Girl ordered, "Get dressed and leave at once." There was more rustling under the bed sheets as another, young blonde woman sleepily emerged from beneath. "You too!"

Wide awake, both woman scrambled for their clothing and bolted for the door, with Bumble Bee following behind them saying she would get them an Uber home. With just Wonder Girl and Aqualad alone, she folded her arms and stared daggers.

"This is why you skip on your responsibilities? Concubines?"

Aqualad rubbed his hands through his hair. Once long had now been cut so that it was shoulder length, and tied back into a small ponytail. "I'm not really in the mood for a lecture right now."

Wonder Girl grit her teeth and began counting her fingers. "You miss trainings, you stay out all night doing Zeus knows what, you are sloppy during missions to the point of almost getting your team killed," he blanched at her words, shrinking away until he slumped onto his bed.

"I know, I've been a mess lately, but I'm dealing with it."

She barked a laugh. "How exactly?"

He glared and threw up his hands. "I just am okay. I don't need this right now. Your not my mother."

She was about to start screaming again, but thought for a moment. After taking a few breaths she calmly reminded him, "No I'm not. I'm your friend, one of your oldest, and would think you'd trust me enough to talk to me."

He rolled his eyes. "Like you'd have any idea what I'm going through."

"How can I?" She approached him, hands outstretched as if beckoning him in some way, "when you won't talk to me. Or anyone."

He looked away from her, shaking his head, but in his heart he knew she was right. How could she, or anyone, help him if he didn't ask for it.

"I will, but… not now. I'm, going through things and need to sort them out."

She clenched her jaw. "That's not good enough."

"I know," he got to his feet and approached her, "I know it's not what you wanna hear and I know you could make me talk any time you wanted." His eyes darted to the lasso she carried on her belt. "But I'm asking you to trust me on this. When I'm ready I will come to you."

Her gaze was fixed with anger. "You mean when you've had your fun? When you've used up all the whine, woman and song to your liking?" He met her gaze, but wasn't denying her accusation. "That's what I thought." She spun on her heel and exited his room, making sure her black locks slapped him across the face as she moved.

— _ **:0:—**_

"Can I ask you something?"

With the blonde on her way, Bumble Bee was calling another Uber for the red head when her question caught her off guard. "Um. Yeah. Shoot."

The red head fiddled with her fingers that were hidden beneath her jacket. "Well, this probably isn't any of my business, but is there like and age where super heroes retire or something." Bumble Bee tilted her head in confusion so she continued. "Well we didn't get much sleep last night, if you know what I mean, but when we did he was talking in his sleep and he sounded terrified. I was just thinking, maybe he needs to stop the hero thing."

Bumble Bee narrowed her eyes, making the girl realize she had overstepped her bounds. "Your concerns will be taken into consideration." She said through her teeth.

The red head smiled nervously and sat on the chair as she waited for her ride. Bumble Bee was about to leave her be when she thought of a question herself.

"Did he say what he was terrified of?"

She shook her head. "Not when he woke up, but while he was sleeping he was talking about white empty eyes. Whatever that means."

— _ **:0:—**_

 _Bring him home._ From the _Les Misérables_ soundtrack, was by far one of his favorite pieces to play on the piano. Maybe it was because he could identify with such a sweet melody as the notes poured from his fingertips onto the Snow White keys. Ethan Connors was often called a master pianist since he played not just with his hands, but with his whole soul, however he never saw anything unique about his playing. To him he simply lost himself in the music as each note touched his heart.

On some occasions he would get so lost in his playing he would forget that the outside world even existed. For example when he was supposed to be teaching a piano lesson.

The final notes flew from the instrument and into the morning light, followed by ecstatic clapping that returned him back to earth. As he blushed from the attention he was receiving from his student, he realized that earth wasn't so bad right now.

"Okay, Okay," he motioned with his hands to settle their applause, "I've played. Now it's time to start your lesson."

The blonde, brown eyed beauty pouted from her spot on the couch by the massive window. "Awe, but I want to hear you play again."

He laughed. "Now what kind of teacher would I be if I let you skip your lessons?" He moved over on the piano bench and motioned for her to join him.

She stood, hands behind her back and rocking mischievously on the balls of her feet as she took a seat beside him. "That right. Your the teacher," she leaned closer so that her voice dropped to a husky whisper, "and I'm the naughty schoolgirl that didn't finish her homework."

Now the piano served as an area for the pair to begin ravaging each other. He hated the power she had over him, and yet always found himself giving in. Maybe it was the danger of what they were doing, or the fact that she genuinely cared about him, but he couldn't resist her or her lips whenever the chance arose.

Unfortunately such moments pass quickly.

 **Knock knock knock**. "Emily? Ethan? You guys in there?"

Giggling curses the pair separated and took positions at the piano. "Come on dad!" Emily called.

Her father, Mayor Samuel Rasmussen, smiles brightly from beneath his short beard as he entered the room. "And How is our lessons going this morning?"

Ethan chuckled. Sneaking around for so long had made him much less nervous about making out with his daughter. "Well, if Emily ever gets around to stop procrastinating."

He frowned at his daughter. "Come on Em, how do you expect to be as amazing at this instrument if you don't practice?" He placed a hand on Ethan's shoulder. "I pay for the best after all."

Ethan blanched at his touch. Sure he didn't mind when he was with Emily, but he still didn't like being touched. He had to remind himself that Samuel was a good man, unlike some that he knew.

"You flatter me," he grinned a fake grin, "but I wouldn't q say master, just a guy who enjoys music."

"Oh pish tosh. You have a gift my boy, might as well flaunt it to all those stuffed shirts that grace my home."

"Alright dad," Emily gave her father a gentle shove, "Your embarrassing him. Now I really do need to practice."

His grin dropped to a bored scowl. "Yeah about that. Speaking of stuffed shirts, I've got a lot to do before the gala tonight and your mother needs some help, so you'll have to miss your lessons today."

Both teens felt a heavy sadness fall over them, but not for missing piano lessons.

They stood from the bench. "And what would you have me do this evening sir." Ethan asked. "The usual I presume?"

He smiled. "You man the piano, my boy. And this time I'll make sure that bowl of tip money is piled high."

Ethan laughed. "Once again your too good to me." Rasmussen led his daughter out of the music room, but not before she glanced over her shoulder and winked at her teacher.

As much as he loved being close to her, he did enjoy the company of the grand piano when he was alone. Deciding that he still had time before he had to prepare for the gala tonight, he went back to the piano and began fiddling with the piano, until the smell of smoke tickled his nose.

"Damn it." Looking down at the keys he, once again, somehow left burn marks on the white ivory.


	3. Meta

**Dear god this chapter took forever!**

 **For those interested Ive started anoter story set in the Young justice universe called "Young Justice Case files" started with "The Suicide Squad". Give er a read and let me know what you think.**

 **in the mean time.**

 **On with the show.**

 **Chapter 3: Meta**

Ethan Connors examined himself one last time in the mirror. Shined black shoes, crisp ironed black slacks and a white shirt underneath a silk red vest. His lip twitched into a smile as his hands slid down the vest. Red had always been his favorite color.

He placed his name tag just above his heart, ran a hand through his sandy blonde hair, popped a mint, and exited the changing room. The other servers hired for the evening had been mingling with each other, but once he stepped into their presence he was greeted with cold stares. He nervously moved past them knowing very well they weren't excited about standing around handing out food and drinks, while he got to sit on a comfortable bench playing piano all night.

He weaved through them, finding an empty spot at the back of the room and went right for it. His Hope was to stand by himself in the back until it was time to get to work.

"Hey piano boy," Wrong again. Looking up, one of the larger servers, Ethan remembered his name being Rick, blocked his path. Fists clenched and ready to fight, but before any harm could be done one of Ethan's best, besides Emily, friend stepped between them.

"Step off big man," The African American youth, Winston, put his hand to the guys chest.

Rick glared, supposedly ready to knock his teeth in, until his eyes dipped to the uniform Winston was wearing. A dark black suit with a green vest. Realizing who he was with, he held up His hands and stepped away.

Once he was gone Ethan continued to his spot at the wall, shaking his head at Winston. "You didn't have to do that. I can handle myself."

Winston waved him off. "Ain't no thang." He punched him playfully in his shoulder. "I gotcha back."

Ethan gave a small grin of appreciation. "What are you doing here anyways?"

Winston stood beside him against the wall. "Ah you know Deleheart. Just loves having his number one around."

"Number one servant?"

"Hey I prefer the term 'assistant'."

"Yet your down here with the servants." Winston stammered, but instead of coming up with an answer gave his friend a playful punch to his arm.

"Just be glad I am here. That way Community College wouldn't mess with ya knowing Delehearts guy is here."

They waited a few more minutes with quiet chit chatting between them before their manager, Debra, entered the Country Clubs locker room to pass out assignments. Ethan tended to ignore her since his task was always the same. Sit and play the piano, and, per Rasmussen's instructions, collect tips for himself. This of course didn't help his standings with his fellow servers, but in his defense they could all go to their own homes when the evening was over. He on the other hand was a live in servant, staying with the Rasmussen's until he could afford his own place.

"...and as a quick note, today is our very own, Ethan Connors, birthday. Happy eighteen." Everyone in the room gave half hearted applause, except for Winston who looked at him dumbfounded.

"It's your birthday!? Dude why didn't you say anything? I woulda thrown you a party!"

Ethan rolled his eyes. "Question asked, question answered."

Their manager continued so Winston lowered his voice. "Does Emily know?"

Ethan glanced around to make sure no one was eavesdropping. "She does, but we're not doing anything special. At least she promised me she wouldn't."

Winston grinned knowingly. "That means she got something planned for you, brotha."

He looked at him, about to combat his claim, but the longer he thought about it, the more he realized, "Oh crap." Before they realized it, their manager had finished speaking and dismissed everyone.

Heading out to the country clubs dining hall, Winston kept himself close to Ethan. "Dude she's leaving for school soon, what are are you two planning on doing about that?"

Ethan kept his tone low. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. In the meantime we have work to do."

Winston was still wanting to press the issue, but once they stepped into the dining area, Ethan bolted for the piano. Winston shook his head before moving to other areas to see to his own duties.

Taking a seat at the bench he glanced around the relatively empty dining room. All the tables were set, and he could smell the food being cooked from the kitchen at the far side of the country club.

Chicken parmesan with a honey glaze, Alfredo noodles, garlic bread, salad with a vinaigrette, served with top shelf wine.

… _...how do I know all that?_

He shook his head, trying to take his focus off the food that he could miraculously smell, and began fiddling with the piano, but kept his eyes on the lookout for any guests. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed his "secret girlfriend" waltz up beside him, but he did his best to keep his eyes are from her. No one must have been paying to much attention since she ran her hand along her shoulders before taking a seat beside him. Hovering her fingers over the keys was his cue to stop playing and to give her a chance.

As soon as he stopped playing she began plucking away at the keys. The familiar melody of "happy birthday".

He rolled his eyes making false attempts to stop her. "Shhh, I don't want anyone to know."

Emily smirked. "Don't act like you don't enjoy the fact that you have a secret someone who knows it's your birthday."

He grinned sheepishly. "Well, Winston knows too."

She scoffed as she slammed her hands onto the keys. "Ugh! But only I was supposed to know!"

He shrugged. "What can I say, he's a master detective. Plus Debra announced it to everyone so it wasn't hard."

She glared playfully, but shrugged and began messing with the piano keys herself. "We should do something after this boring signing or whatever."

"Hey, this, erm, meta thing is important."

She quirked a thick dark brow, easily picking up on the fact that he was trying to change the subject. "Oh I see. This 'meta thing' is super important you remember the name clearly."

"What," he grinned, "it's about meta human tagging? Right?"

She continued staring at him before casually going back to the piano. "I don't know. Something like that. Back to the subject at hand, what do you want to do for tonight?"

He mentally cringed. "I don't know. I'm not huge into birthdays. Especially my own."

She stopped her playing for a moment, looking at him with a look of sincerity and care. Before she could say anything more she quickly turned her head towards the doors. "Important people are coming. Got to go." She placed a kiss onto her finger tips before touching them to his cheek. "We'll talk later. Promise."

He smiled warmly, holding her hand against his cheek until it finally slipped away. Composing himself he went back to the piano and began to play as more and more guests arrived.

— _ **:0:—**_

Bumble Bee grew back to her full size outside the doors of the country club. Reaching for an earpiece wirelessly connected to her communicator she contacted the rest of her team.

"Vents and other nooks and crannies are clear. What about you guys?"

" _Roof and surrounding building are secure."_ Wonder Girl spoke.

Terra was next. " _Just finished checking the perimeter and it's good to go."_

" _And the club is clear. Nothing nasty happening tonight coming from inside."_ Kid Flash still sounded annoyed and slightly upset, making it no surprise he volunteered to continue as security during the signing.

"Alright. Everyone rondevu back in the meeting hall." Bumble bee clicked off her earpiece and made her way to the dining room. Still vigilant she weaved through the growing crowd searching for Mayor Rasmussen who would be leading the signing.

Frowning, she hovered a few feet in the air until she spotted him with the police commissioner, William Thornton.

She buzzed towards them, landing softly and be greeted with warm smiles.

"Bumble bee!" Mayor Rasmussen threw one of his arms around her shoulders. "So good to see you again."

She groaned beneath his impressive girth. "Yeah, you too." Getting free, she extended her hand to Commissioner Thornton.

"Miss Bumble bee," he took her hand with a frosty attitude, "I trust no Metahumans will be causing trouble this evening?"

"No sir. My team and I have checked every part of the Club, there won't be any surprises tonight."

Commissioner Thornton "hm'd" with a false toothless grin. His dark chocolate brown eyes matched his skin perfectly, but unlike most men in his position, he was a much younger man, early forties tops. It was something Bumble Bee and her team thought was strange, but at the same time he was a very straight laced man who worked by the book so they assumed he climbed the ladder for his status easily. Not like she could ever ask him about it, he was never fond of the Titans, feeling that they made him and his police officers look bad.

He cleared his throat. "Well let's hope it stays that way." Stepping aside he motioned for Rasmussen to follow.

Feeling the need to explain, he turned to Bumble Bee. "Agh. Business stuff. Enjoy the evening."

"Will do sir." Bumble Bee May have smiled, but it quickly dropped to a frown as soon as their backs had turned. Specifically at Thornton. "Ass."

— _ **:0:—**_

"I know your not a fan Bill, but you don't have to be so rude."

Thornton rolled his eyes. "I'd be less frosty if they didn't make my men look like useless idiots."

Rasmussen grabbed him by his arm so they stopped walking. "That's not what it is. They help when there's a threat you boys can't handle alone. They saved my wife and baby girl after all."

Thornton sighed. "I know, and I'll admit that they've done some good, but my guys need jobs too. Hopefully this new law will keep the Meta's away so we can deal with human criminals."

Rasmussen shook his head, knowing that this was just a losing argument. He grabbed two glasses of champagne from a server walking by and handed one to Thornton. "Well here's to change."

They clinked glasses and took a drink. "Save any for us?" Approaching them were their two other friends, District Attorney, Alister Walker, and John Deleheart, accompanied by his assistant, Winston.

"Get your own AL." Rasmussen laughed.

Alister shook his friends hand. "You know I'm trying to cut back."

Rasmussen chuckled, "Aren't we all." He took another drink before turning to Winston. "Geez, it's like you two are chained together."

Winston let out a laugh. "Now you know why they call me 'Wingman'."

John shook his head, patting him on his back. "No one calls you that. Ever. Now go get me a drink."

He gave a mock salute and left the four to track down a server.

"Seems awfully fancy for just a signing in a new law." Walker shrugged.

Thornton chuckled. "You know Seth, always looking for an excuse to party."

"Works for me," Winston had returned handing a glass to Deleheart, "I love to mingle."

Deleheart took a drink. "Then go mingle. I need to visit with my colleagues."

Winston shrugged. "Fine, I know when I'm not wanted."

Rasmussen watched him disappear into the growing crowd. "I should probably get this shindig started." He took another drink and headed for the front of the dining hall.

— _ **:0:—**_

Out of the corner of his eye, Ethan saw Mayor Rasmussen standing at the front of the dining room at a microphone, made eye contact with him and motioned for him to stop playing. Ethan finished the piece he was playing before removing his fingers from the keys. As soon as the song ended, Rasmussen tapped on the microphone to get everyone's attention and though everyone quieted down some conversations continued.

Ethan watched as Rasmussen welcomed everyone, made a few jokes and told everyone how the evening was going to go. However Ethan's ears began to twitch as slowly other voices began floating to his ears.

" _...top shelf champagne…."_

" _...he needs to get on with it…."_

" _...he told that joke last time…"_

" _...we shouldn't do this…."_

" _...I heard he hasn't touched his wife in weeks…"_

Groaning, he discreetly lowered his head, pinching the bridge of his nose and putting one hand over his ear.

" _...so drink as much booze as you want…"_

" _...this glass has something in it…."_

" _...you remember the deal…."_

" _...I dropped my fork…."_

" _...did you see that movie the other day…."_

Unable to take the increasing volume of the voices, he stood up from the piano bench and sprinted to the bathroom.

" _... so have a wonderful night!"_

The hall erupted into applause, which nearly brought him to his knees in agony due to how loud it was. He pushed the door open and slammed it behind him, the noise only adding to his pain. He covered his ears in a vain attempt to drown out the voices.

"Look on the bright side," he said aloud, "at least the voices aren't in my head. I'm just hearing what everyone is saying." _That's right, stay positive._

— _ **:0:—**_

Terra let out another long and bored sigh as her crystal blue eyes scanned the meeting hall. They landed on Bumble Bee who was rubbing elbows with a few of Steele Cities community leaders. With the situation looking like the Titans would no longer be needed pretty soon, they had to fill their time somehow and community outreach and service seemed a good place to start.

Moving on she found Wonder Girl, once again, neck deep in the culture of a "Mans world". Which usually meant being surrounded by young men who were fawning over the "exotic, Amazonian beauty". Terra couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of the poor boys thinking they'd have a chance with her.

With Kid Flash patrolling outside, Terra had been stuck on guard duty inside, hanging by the walls to monitor the party and it's coming and goings. Everyone was certain some upset Meta was gonna come knocking around, but for once, it was quiet.

She sighed again, letting her head bump against the wall. "I shoulda taken outside guard duty." She groaned to herself.

"Yeah But then you wouldn't be inside enjoying the awesome people?" Her head slumped to the left towards the voice of the police officer standing beside her. He offered her a wide grin, _How long had he been there?_ "so your not really enjoying yourself?"

She shrugged moving her head back towards the gathering. "Meh. Not really my scene."

He nodded his head. "You look like your as bored as I am."

She rolled her eyes. "Gee Thanks. I only spent twenty minutes on my hair and makeup."

His smile dropped suddenly very nervous. "W-well I-I didn't mean—th-that you—Uh," he stopped tripping over his tongue when he saw the side of her lip quick upward, "Oh. Y-Your messing with me."

Her eyes widened with a sarcastic gasp. "Wow. You must be a detective?"

He examined his basic black police uniform. "Nah, not yet. Some day though, but in the meantime, just a rookie cop." He extended his hand. "Names Ryan. Ryan Montgomery. They call me Monti."

She took his hand. "Terra."

He laughed. "I know who you are, you saved my sister."

She released his hand. "Than you must be happy about this law being passed. Less chance for Metahumans to roam the streets causing problems."

He scrunched his face. "I guess."

She turned to face him confused. "You guess?"

"Well they have to be collared and marked, even after their released from prison. Doesn't leave much room for rehabilitation when your marked as a criminal for the rest of your life."

She snorted a laugh. "You sound like Kid Flash."

"Well he's not wrong. Everyone should have the Chance to change, don't you think so?"

Her blood froze in her veins. She hadn't thought of that at all. She had been so focused on keeping super powered criminals locked away from hurting innocent people, she hadn't once thought of THEM as people.

What if someone had thought of HER that way?

She must have appeared distressed, because Monti awkwardly cleared his throat. "You know what, it's dumb. We don't have to talk about that—"

"I, uh, gotta go... get some fresh air. It was nice to meet you." Without waiting she hurried away from him, his words about change and rehabilitation causing her to rethink her position entirely.

— _ **:0:—**_

It took a moment, but finally the voices faded and Ethan's world was silent once again. He glanced around the bathroom, a few guys coming and going, but for the most part he was alone.

"What the hell?" He turned on the sink and began to splash water onto his face, water that immediately began to turn into steam as soon as it touched his skin. Looking at his hands he was beginning to become frightened. "Okay seriously what the hell?"

The door to the bathroom opened, startling him into spinning around and throwing his hands behind his back as if he had done something wrong. The large intimidating Rick slammed the door behind him.

He folded his arms across his chest, staring down daggers at Ethan. "Rasmussen is wondering where you ran to, piano boy."

Ethan cleared his throat, gesturing to the bathroom with a nervous grin. "Just had to take a pee break obviously, heh."

Rick frown only deepened. "Ya know piano boy," he balled his fists and advanced on Ethan, "this whole 'your the favorite' shit is really getting on my nerves."

Ethan tilted his head in confusion. "Uhhhhh, what do you want me to do about it? Not be a gentleman?"

Rick's face turned a dark shade of red from anger. When he was close enough he shoved Ethan in the shoulders, knocking him against the sink. "Getting smart with me?"

Ethan shrugged with a small laugh. "Well it's kinda easy."

Rick shoved him again. "Alright funny guy," he grabbed his right hand and squeezed, "let's see how funny you think this is."

Horrifying flashbacks began blazing in his eyes, causing him to hyperventilate and lose focus. Rick didn't notice, instead he was intent on causing him pain. Without considering that Rick was much larger than him, Ethan pushed against him with all his might.

"Get away!"

 **CRASH!**

Ethan blinked his eyes as of a strong light flashed in front of them, and only when his vision cleared did he see Rick had been practically thrown against the wall creating a small hole in the bathroom tile.

Panic settled inside of him again. "Seriously. What the hell?"

— _ **:0:—**_

Winston examined the unconscious bully before glancing back at his friend. Ethan had his arm folded across his stomach while he chewed furiously on his nails. Winston looked back and forth a few more times.

He motioned at the chaos with his finger. "Aaaaaaand you're saying you… did … this?" Ethan nodded once. "But your like a buck fifty soaking wet."

Ethan rolled his eyes. "I know and yet here we are, and this isn't it either." Winston's eyes got a bit wider. "I've been hearing conversations across the room and I knew what we were having for dinner by smelling it."

Winston took a moment to absorb the information. "I thought the champagne tasted funny."

"I didn't drink anything!" Ethan began pacing the bathroom. "I'm not in anything, this just started—" he froze, his head jerking towards the door, "someone's coming."

Winston bolted for the door leaving Ethan nervously pacing, but was still able to hear what was happening.

"Sorry Brotha, bathrooms closed. Someone got nasty sick in here." It took a few moments for Winston to convince the gentleman that the restroom was closed but finally they had been left alone again. "Alright here's what we're gonna do." Winston glanced at Rick who was beginning to stir. "You get back out there and I'll deal with him."

"Your not gonna kill him are you?"

Winston looked at him with hilarious confusion. "Wha-What wh-why would you—no I'm not gonna—" he grabbed Ethan by the shoulders and led him to the door. "I'm just gonna throw some money at him. Now get outta here." Before Ethan has left Winston grabbed his arm. "And don't...do anything...at all. Just act natural."

Ethan started at the door, then back at at the dining hall. "Act natural. Like I haven't just pushed a two ton guy into a wall. Easy peasy."

 **A lot going on, some new characters introduced, but you dont have to remember all of them. Ethan of course is an important one as well as Emily, her father the Mayor, and the Rookie cop with Terra.**

 **what will their roles be? just wait and see.**


	4. Seeing Red

**Not a whole lot to say, but stay tuned for a AN aT the end.**

 **on with the show.**

Chapter **4: Seeing Red**

Terra took a few gulpfulls of air as soon as she made it outside. How could she have been so stupid? What if she had been tagged, branded, caged for everything she had done? Granted she had spent years frozen in stone then forced to forget everything, which could have been interpreted as punishment, but she couldn't avoid the feelings of guilt she lived with day in and day out.

She straightened up, running her hands through her hair and lifting her nose towards the sky. Taking a few more breaths of the fresh night air, she was beginning to feel a bit better. She stood there for a few moments, enjoying the cool summer night against her skin, when she was joined by her teammate, Kid Flash.

He looked her up and down, noticing how distressed she looked, before asking, "You Alright Terra? You came out here kinda fast?"

She nodded her head. "Yeah, I'm good."

He raised a brow, "buuuut?"

She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, before rolling them. "I, might be, possibly, considering, that you… might be … right."

With wide eyes He took his finger and began rubbing the inside of his ear. "I'm sorry I didn't hear that, what did you say?"

She punched him in the shoulder. "You know what I said, you ass."

He laughed as he rubbed his now sore arm. "Okay, okay. But for giggles, what am I right about?"

She waved her gloves hand towards the country club. "This whole Metahuman signing thing. I hadn't realized how much this, kinda, applies to me."

His smile and joking nature faded when he slowly realized what it was she was talking about. Slightly stunned he only managed to breathe an, "Oh."

"Don't worry about it." She folded her arms across her chest. "I've come to terms with everything that I did, and what happened to me because of it. I just never looked at others that way I guess. I mean, what if that was me people just gave up on?" They stood in silence for a moment. "You can't imagine how grateful I am that someone like Beast Boy didn't give up on me." He head fell when a knot formed in her throat, but before she knew it she felt a light punch to her shoulder. "Ugh What was that for?"

He grinned. "Just reminding you that we're friends and I don't hold anything against you, and as far as I know, none of the others do either."

She shook her head as she rubbed her arm. "They don't. It helps when it wasn't them that I—"

"—Hey, no more of that alright. It happened, it sucked, time to move on. Alright?" He moved to punch her again, but she blocked his jab and returned with one of her own.

"Fine, only cuz you asked so nicely." They stood in comfortable silence, rubbing their bruised shoulders, as she tried to push her lingering thoughts on the metahuman bill out of her mind. "But we should get back to our jobs. Don't want any surprises here." Agreeing with her, he zipped away giving her a chance to head back inside.

— _ **:0:—**_

 _Just get back to your piano. Everything's fine. Winston's got this._

Ethan did his best to act as casually as possible, but even with his rigid stance and mechanical movements no one seemed to be paying him much attention.

 _Sometimes it's good to be invisible._

"Ethan—"

"—I didn't do it!" He spun around, scaring the ever living hell out of his girlfriend. Emily gawked at him like a deer caught in the headlights. Seeing that it was only her, he tried to back track. "Uh… well I didn't, heh."

She chuckled. "Well the music stopped and Dad was wondering where you were."

He laughed. "Oh yeah, ha I was, uh…" _Bathroom? No what if it's announced that someone was thrown against the wall._ "Getting a snack?" She raised a brow with a small wrinkle of her nose. "You know your adorable when you do that."

She knew he was changing the subject, but she decided to wrinkle her nose even further. "Just get back to the piano, sweet talker." She went off to mingle in the sea of people, leaving him to go back to his duties. He sat down on the piano bench and began playing, all the while the incident in the bathroom played over in his mind.

 _What was that? Am I stronger than I look?_ He looked down at his thin stick like arms. _Doubt it._ His eyes wandered the dining room, for some reason feeling like all The whispers and conversations were about him. He suddenly remembered what it was this evening was about, causing his fingers to freeze for a moment.

 _Am I … a meta human? But my parents weren't… so I shouldn't be… right. I didn't know my grandparents, what if they were metahumans? Does it skip a generation?_

"Ethan." Once again he nearly jumped clean out of his skin when someone whispered his name into his ear. Winston put his hands on Ethan's shoulders to settle him. "Chill out, it's just me."

Ethan slapped his hands away. "Don't do that. My nerves are shot right now."

"Heh, my bad. But don't worry. It's taken care of."

Ethan looked at him with a hint of freight in his eyes. "You didn't kill him did you?"

Winston rolled his eyes with exasperation. "Why do you keep thinking I'm gonna kill him?"

"Well I don't know. Usually when someone says they're gonna 'take care of it' it means there gonna kill them."

Winston sighed. "No, I didn't kill him. I took him back to the locker room and threw him on one of the chairs. He'll think he just passed out or something."

"But what if he remembers what I did."

Winston shook his head. "After the way you slammed him into the wall? I doubt it." He got closer to Ethan, bringing his voice down to a whisper. "How did you do that anyways?"

Ethan shook his head, thankful for his he muscle memory of being able to play the piano even while distracted. "I've been trying to figure that out." Winston fell silent, his eyes examining the he simple piano player beside him as if trying to figure him out all over again. "Stop staring at me. I'm telling you. I. Don't. Know."

"...and if our piano player could stop for a few seconds we can get going on this."

Rasmussen's voice brought them back to earth, both realizing that he had been trying to get their attention for some time now. He stopped playing as the crowd erupted into laughter.

Winston nudged him with his shoulder. "P.S.. The after, slash, birthday party is at your place." He walked away leaving Ethan to gawk at the back of his head, wishing for something to throw at it.

Rasmussen, joined by the his friends, The police commissioner and assistant district Attorney, pulled up a nearby table, grabbed a few pieces of paper and held it up for the crowd to see. "This law will help keep some of the more dangerous Meta's from trashing our beloved city. So let's get this party started."

— _ **:0:—**_

Bumble Bee couldn't believe it. She, along with a large majority of those gathered, believed that some big bad would have crashed the party by now. Yet throughout the signing up till the end of the evening, there was nothing. Not a peep from any villains, meta's, secret assassins or anything. Even now as people began to leave, she was no longer on edge.

Beside her Donna stood, still ready to do battle should the need arise. "Huh, that was much easier than expected."

Bumble Bee scoffed. "Your telling me. I thought there would be a lot more action going on tonight."

Donna shrugged as she looked over the dispersing crowd. "So what now then?"

Bumble bee noticed Terra and Kid Flash making their way towards them. Odds are they were wondering the same thing. "Ya hungry? I didn't get a chance to eat."

"Yes, food does indeed sound good."

Kid Flash groaned, holding his stomach comically. "Ugh man I need food bad!"

"Calm down ya big baby," Terra punched him again, "but I'm starving too so let's eat."

"Alright. Pizza time. NOT IT!" Everyone got to their "NOT IT's" in time, except for Donna.

"Ah Tartarus. I'm paying again?"

"Dems the breaks Donna." Kid Flash grinned, "now let's go." They headed off to their favorite pizza parlor, ready to leave their rather uneventful night behind them.

— _ **:0:—**_

 **Rasmussen home**

Ethan was never good with anyone going out of there way to do something nice for him, It's not that he didn't want it, he just never knew how to respond. For example if someone were to throw a party for him, how exactly was he supposed to react? Maybe a thank you? Overly excited? Cart wheels?

Taking a look around the various guests he quickly learned that even though Winston SAID this party was for him, that was far from the truth. He had no idea who any of these people were and vice versa, aside of someone calling him "the piano guy" once in a while, but otherwise he was alone in a sea of people.

Deciding that this wasn't his scene he left the party to make his way to his own room on the first floor of the house. Ready to have the rest of the night to himself he wasn't prepared for a familiar scent to catch his attention.

 _Great, I can smell her now… actually I'm okay with that._ Turning around he found the pleasant sight of the smiling Emily. His chest warmed, feeling a familiar fluttering as she approached him. She had removed her yellow party dress for more casual wear, sweatpants and a T-shirt. _Huh, odd choice of clothing with all these people here._

She tilted her head letting her golden hair cascade over her shoulder. "Let me guess, not your scene?"

He laughed. "You know me so well."

Making sure they were alone she put her arm around his waist and pulled him close. "I told Winston you wouldn't be down for this, but you know him. Always loves a good party."

He rolled his eyes. "I think he just likes attention. Look at him." He nodded to the crowd, seeing Winston chatting with a few individuals with his phone out and ready for phone numbers. He shook his head, "thank goodness your mother isn't here or she'd have a fit."

She snorted a laugh. "Yeah, dads a lil more chill since he has his buddies with him in his private study. Speaking of which we need Skype her for your birthday."

He nodded, but then a smirk quirked the side of his lip, "Personally I wanted to spend it in the company of a certain someone."

They joined hands and continued to his bedroom, her voice now taking on a teasing tone. "Oh really? Anyone I know?"

He pushed against her playfully. "I think you might." Something else he couldn't get enough of. Their playful banter, and she gave as good as she got.

He wasn't supposed to be this lucky. After everything that he had been through, how did anything good happen to him. Living in a place with people who genuinely cared about him, with a girl who, for some reason, adored him. Weird changes happening to him aside, he couldn't have been more happy with the way his life was going.

They came to his room, just as they had many times before, in secret. Ethan began going through the checklist for sneaking around with his girlfriend. She stepped into his room as he checked the locks on the door, made sure her hiding place in his closet was clean in case anyone barged in, and also made sure her escape out the window was clear. Again, just in case.

He wondered what they would be doing tonight? Making out? Netflix? Cuddling? Little if everything? _After today, Netflix and snuggling sounds wonderful._ But when he turned around it was clear she had more on her mind then snuggling.

She had removed her baggy T-shirt and unsightly sweatpants for a crimson teddy and a matching underwear.

The sight of the blonde beauty, literally bearing herself to him, shut down his thinking so fast that the only word he could think to say was, "Why?"

She giggled looking down at herself. "Do you like it? I made sure to get the red one. You like red right?"

He nodded his head so fast his brain rattled against his skull. "N-no! It's wonderful… I-I-it's just … I didn't think w-w-we were quite there yet."

She took him by the hands and led him to his bed. "Well, I'm leaving for school soon, we're both adults, so shouldn't we make the most our time together?"

The mention of her upcoming schooling brought some motor function back to his mouth. "Shouldn't we be talking about that? I mean what are we gonna—mph!"

She captured his lips with her own before pushing him onto his back. Throwing her legs over his hips she looked down at him more man hungry then a cannibal. Once again, he lost all sense seeing the way the teddy cupped her breasts.

"I think we've talked enough Ethan," she lowered herself so that her lips grazed against his, "I've known you for a few years, and...well," suddenly her confidence had left, making her appear so small in his arms.

However, he had known her long enough that he practically knew what she was thinking, and caressing her cheek he smiled. Seeing him smile helped her to regain some of her courage, "I want my first time to be with you."

He smiled widely as he kissed her lips, mumbling the words, "Me too."

— _ **:0:—**_

Winston was going through the new contacts in his phone when he noticed that the "man of the hour" had vanished. Not surprisingly when he approached a handful of the party goers asking about him, they had no idea who Ethan was, but whoever he was, tell him thanks for the party. Winston rolled his eyes and continued looking for him.

"I haven't seen him in, like, an hour." He muttered looking at the clock on his phone. Weaving through the crowd, and unable to find him, Winston went for the only other place he could think of. Ethan's bedroom.

Hurriedly moving towards his room, he shouted, "Yo Ethan you in there? I know you hate parties but Come on man. It's yours, you need to—". He froze outside just outside Ethan's door.

It had been left cracked open, with a pool of blood forming on the ground.

Winston took a few, hesitant steps. "Ethan? Buddy?" As he got closer he could hear someone choking on their sobs coming from the bedroom. "Ethan?" He pushed the door opened and nearly fell over when the stench of blood hit him in the face. He couldn't believe the horrifying sight he had just walked in on.

His best friend held Emily in his arms, uncontrollably crying into her lifeless chest. Her head lay limply on the ground as her lifeless eyes stared blankly at Winston.

"Ethan man," he breathed, "What did you do?"

— _ **:0:—**_

 **Jump city**

"...yes high can I speak to Kevin please…"

"...I'm sorry to have bothered you…"

"...how long ago was that…."

"...is Dale around…"

"...sorry for your loss…"

"...if you can call me back at this number, I need to speak to Allison…"

"... thanks…"

"...thanks."

Drake tossed his cell phone onto his bed, went to a piece of paper tacked to his wall and crossed out a few more names.

He rubbed his forehead with exasperation and exhaustion. "Damn it." He paced his small room until he came to his desk. "DAMN IT!" Like it was nothing he threw the desk against the wall with a smash. He ran his hands through his hair, trying to control his mounting frustration, but looking at his desk in splinters only made him more agitated. "Great, Robin's gonna get on my ass for that."

Speaking of Robin, looking over to his wall of of papers and threads made him think back to a conversation he had with the boy wonder when it came to solving cases.

" _It's like a puzzle. Each piece connects to the others to make a clear picture. If it doesn't fit, it's the wrong piece. If it doesn't make sense, you don't have all the pieces."_

"This doesn't make sense. So what piece am I missing?"

He sauntered to the desk and began picking up the shards when something caught his attention. A small orb the size of a softball glowing a soft magenta.

His eyes grew wide. He grabbed it in his hand, inspecting the orb on all sides. It was the stone, the stone Malchior used to find other Dragon Knights.

"Holy crap." Another of his Dragon Knight brothers or sisters had awoken.

 **yes this is kind of a douche cliffhanger, but this is a muder mystery so it needs cliffys, missing time, and who done its. sorry if it pisses you off.**

 **its to soon, but do you have any theories for what happened? love to hear them.**

 **until next time.**


	5. On the run

Chapter **5: On the run.**

"Ethan man, what did you do?"

Ethan couldn't hear him, he kept his face planted in Emily's lifeless chest, unable to contain his wailing. Winston got to his feet to approach him with his hand outstretched. "Ethan, man, what happened—"

The next moments were a blur.

Ethan had let go of her body, leapt towards Winston and grabbed him by his throat. Gasping and looking at his friend, Winston didn't even recognize him. He was Covered in blood with eyes large with sadness and rage, his tears sliding down his face making the thick sticky blood watery. Winston wasn't sure, but taking a closer look at his eyes they were A shimmering, glassy look with black slits. Almost like a cats or a lizard.

His breathing was ragged, in and out through his teeth, teeth slowly becoming pointed. "I didn't do this!" He hissed and practically slammed Winston into the wall. "I wouldn't do this!" His grip got tighter on Winston's throat, his nails digging into his skin like knives.

"E...than.." he choked, "come on man… it's me."

Suddenly a scream sounded from the doorway and like a switch the savagery over Ethan's features vanished. His grip loosened around Winston's neck, dropping him to the floor with a thunk who began gasping for air. A crowd was slowly gathering at his door, each individual ranging from terror to vomiting. Through his watery eyes Winston could see Ethan spinning around in a circle looking back at Emily, then to the crowd, then down at Winston.

"W-Winston, What's—"

"Get out." Winston choked. "Leave. Run!"

Ethan covered his ears with his hands. He couldn't think. He couldn't focus. The only thing he thought to do was listen to Winston and headed for the window, crashing through it and running from the chaos ensuing behind him.

Winston scrambled to his feet while people were tripping over each other to either see, or leave the bloodbath in the bedroom. Winston tried to yell at them to get the police commissioner who should have been in the study with Rasmussen, but his voice only came out as a dull whisper. However it wasn't long before the screaming had gotten their attention.

The dark skinned Thornton was pushing through the crowd heading towards them.

"Out of my way!" He yelled. "What's going —" he froze outside the door, his eyes the size of soft balls at the scene. He put his hand over his nose and mouth. "Dear...god!" He gagged.

Just then Winston heard it. The voice he dreaded hearing.

"Bill?" Rasmussen called from the hallway, "What is it."

Winston and Thornton made eye contact, both knowing exactly what to do. They blocked the doorway, but it was to late. Looking over the much shorter Winston he was able to see the bloodied corpse of his only child.

His mouth fell open as the tears began building in his eyes. Unable to say a word he moved towards her, but Thornton held him back.

"Seth stop!" Thornton screamed over Rasmussen's growing wails, "you can't contaminate the crime scene!"

Rasmussen wasn't having it, instead screamed at the top of his lungs, "EMILY! MY BABY GIRL!"

Winston did his best to hold him back before he slowly crumbled to the floor in a sobbing mess. Thornton grabbed his phone and dialed. "This is commissioner Thornton! I need C.S.U., uni's, paramedics, oh fuck it, send everybody!"

— _ **:0:—**_

 **Jump city.**

Luckily for Drake the orb was generous in providing a basic location for where this new knight could be found. Somewhere on the other side of the country to be exact. Sitting at the large computer consul in the Titans common room, he worked to narrow down the precise spot. Normally he didn't like computers, but he was grateful for the crash course Cyborg had given him.

He leaned back in the chair. "Damn it." Looking down at the orb, he scowled at the crude map swirling in the center of it. A red dot sitting atop a blob resembling the United States. "You know an address would have been better."

His ear twitched when the automatic doors to the common room swished open. Without looking he could tell by the sound of their bare feet and smell of wild animals who was making their way to the kitchen.

The footsteps stopped. "Drake? Dude what are you doing here?"

Drake rubbed his face with his hands. "Would you believe me if I said 'nothing'? The typical teenage response?"

Beast Boy laughed. "Nope!" Again without looking, Drake could tell that Beast Boy was sneaking up beside him. "Seriously what—oooooooo."

Out of the corner of his eye, Drake could see his green hand reach for the glowing ball. He slapped it. "Don't touch."

Beast Boy rubbed his hand. "Ow!? What's that thing?"

Drake leaned back in the chair, grabbed the orb and turned it over in his hand. "It's magic, only glowing when a Dragon Knight has awoken."

Beast Boy looked at the ball now with more curiosity. "Dude sweet. Another one of you? That's cool right? You don't seem too excited."

"I would be if I could find them." He moved the orb until it was eye level with Beast Boy, showing him what it was that was so frustrating.

Beast Boy scrunched and twisted his face. "I don't get it. Why not just scan it into the computer?"

Drake spun in the chair, facing the bare chested, boxer clad Beast Boy, but he was too confused to be uncomfortable by his partial nudity. "Scan it?"

"Yeah." Beast Boy pushed Drake off the chair and began typing on the computer. "When Rae was being attacked by her dads fire demon-thingys, Cy fixed the computers to be able to scan magical thingamajigs and make them digital." A small camera appeared from the computer, aimed itself at the orb and scanned it. A few moments later the screen lit up with a map and a red dot. "And there he is."

Thoroughly impressed Drake examined the map. "Do you know where that is."

"Yup! Steele City, where that Titans East are."

"Perfect." Drake threw the orb into his pocket and headed for the doors.

"Dude? Are you going now? It's the middle of the night?"

Drake paused a moment, wanting to explain that Malchior and his uncle would likely know of this Knights existence, but decided against it. Instead he just muttered, "I have to."

Without missing a beat, Beast Boy ran to his side. "Can I come with?" Drake raised a brow when he turned to face him. "Before you say anything, you don't know how to use the T-ship, or how to navigate Steele City, and your not as tight with the Titans East, so you need me on this mission."

Unfortunately for Drake, Beast Boy was right. Still he wondered. "Why?"

Beast Boy shrugged a shoulder. "It's boring around here, and there's more than enough Titans to handle any problems that come up."

Drake let out a long sigh, rolled his eyes and headed for the elevator. "I guess I can use some backup." Beast Boy did a quick fist pump and bounded beside him. "But your not going anywhere until your clothed."

He scoffed. "Don't be jealous—"

"NOW!"

"Ok!"

— _ **:0:—**_

Ryan "Monti" Montgomery sighed with exasperation as he looked over the notes he had taken throughout the night. Seeing as how he was one of the newest officers he was tasked with taking statements from the party goers which ranged from "didn't see anything" to "so much blood" to uncontrollable sobbing and slurred speech. Not the most reliable of witnesses. Once he was finished with his batch of "witnesses", he sauntered over to the other officers who were being given instructions by their police captain, Charlene Deblase.

"Hunter and Charlie, once your finished head to the neighbors and see if they heard of have seen anything." A smaller Hispanic, she held an air of confidence and authority, but also kindness and understanding should the situation call for it. Right now though wasn't one of those times.

Monti approached her. "Just finished the interviews captain."

Her eyes flitted to his before going back to her own notepad. "Then go back to the crime scene and see if anyone needs help." He tensed his shoulders enough to where she noticed his discomfort. "First time?"

He chuckled dryly. "No, my first time was in high school." She stopped scribbling and looked at him with a bored, unamused look, making him feel as if he was only a foot tall under her stare. "I mean, yes ma'am this is my first body."

She held his gaze for a moment before going back to her notepad. "For some it gets easier, others not so much. One thing that never gets easier is when it's young ones. Kids with their whole lives ahead of them." He felt a punch to his gut that made him squirm, once again catching her attention. "If you rather canvas with Charlie and Hunter—"

"Captain." Another officer, a bit older than Monti lost a lot more hair, emerged from the crime scene bedroom. "We May have a problem."

She rolled her eyes. "Dare I ask."

The officer looked at his notepad. "All of the guests have been accounted for, but one. An 'Ethan Conners', and for what I'm hearing, that's his bedroom."

Monti tilted his head. "The piano kid?"

"You know him?" Charlene asked.

He shook his head. "I know OF him. I was just listening to him play the piano. I think Winston, Delehearts assistant, is tight with him."

Charlene nodded her head before glancing at the other officer. "Track down Ethan. Monti, your with me. Let's go find Winston."

The officer headed back to the bedroom, but called over his shoulder. "He May be in the study with the commissioner and Rasmussen."

Charlene let out a heavy sigh, not looking forward to meeting with the now grieving father. Monti followed behind her as they traveled to the other side of the Rasmussen home to his study. Getting closer they were able to hear a hushed conversation being had on the other side of the door to the study. Charlene made a motion with her head that told Monti she was trying to ignore what was being said, for him however he couldn't help but overhear.

"...this needs to go away…"

"...that's my fucking daughter in there…."

"...we can't bring to much attention to us….."

His Curiosity had been piqued, but unfortunately Charlene had knocked on the door, silencing the men inside.

"Yes?" Commissioner Thornton called.

"It's Deblase."

There was quiet muttering before Thornton opened the door. "What is it captain?"

Monti took notice of the small beads of sweat and slight tremor to his voice. What was he nervous about?

Charlene didn't seem to notice. "We need to speak with Winston. We—"

Thornton held up his hand. "Whatever it is, it'll have to wait."

"I understand sir, but he might be able to help us locate a missing person."

Monti had been watching Thornton closely, and amazingly he didn't seem so surprised that something was amiss, but quickly showed some emotion by furrowing his brow in confusion. "Really? Who?"

"Ethan Connors. He hasn't been accounted for and since Winston is close with him, maybe he can help find him."

Monti noticed that Thornton seemed to be blinking a lot. Maybe the sweat dripping into his eyes? "Like I said, it'll have to wait—"

"No," the door opened a bit further revealing Winston, a damp and bloody rag pressed against his neck, "I can talk."

Monti scrunched his nose as Winston stepped out of the office. "You sure man? You don't sound so good."

Charlene took a closer look at his wounds, removing his hand to examine the jagged cuts in his neck. "Did Ethan do that to you?"

Winston gulped. "H-He… well…"

She got closer to him. "Winston, I know he's your friend, but your not talking to us won't help him. We're just trying to find out what happened."

Winston sighed, leaning against the wall and sliding until he was seated. "I swear I don't know what happened, but the Ethan I know wouldn't do this. Not to Emily, he loved her."

Monti's eyes went wide, Deblase however continued without missing a beat. "So they were pursuing a relationship? I'm assuming it was in secret?"

"They were gonna tell her dad, they just couldn't find the right time. She was gonna stay here and… I dunno," he swallowed hard, wincing in pain.

Deblase knelt until she was eye level with him. "Why did he do that to you?"

He exhaled throwing up his hand. "I don't know how. I've never...never seen him like that. I didn't even recognize him."

Deblase took a moment to absorb the information before getting to her feet and taking Monti by his shoulder. "We need to make finding Ethan priority one."

Once they were out of earshot Monti looked down at her with confusion. "You don't think that Ethan killed her do you?"

She shook her head, but her mind was still going. "I don't know. But they were having a relationship in secret, she was killed in his room, and it appears that she was killed by a meta human." He tilted his head and she realized that he hadn't seen the crime scene. "Pulmonary investigation revealed that she may have been attacked by an animal. An animal that isn't indigenous to this area, or state even." She glanced down at Winston, remembering the marks on his neck. "And those look like claw marks on his neck."

Monti nodded his head. "Do you think the Titans would be able to help us? I mean metahuman is their thing."

"No!" Before Deblase could respond Commissioner Thornton had left the study and approached them. "Leave the Titans out of this. Rasmussen is one of my closest friends and we're going to handle this by keeping it a police matter. Is that clear?" Deblase nodded her head with a "yes sir", but Monti was still unsure. "Is that clear? Officer?"

It took him a moment, but finally gave his own, "Yes sir."

— _ **:0:—**_

" _This is Captain Beast Boy, requesting permission to land."_

" _This is Bumble Bee of Titans East mission control, request granted."_

" _Sweet! BBDrake coming in for a landing."_

" _Don't ever call us that. Ever."_

" _Why not its cu—AGH! AGH! Okay, okay!"_

— _ **:0:—**_

"What up BB?" Bumble bee fist bumped with the green teen.

"Nothing but the ceiling Bee."

She forced a grin. "Has anyone ever thought that was funny."

He puffed out his chest. "Once," slowly he deflated, "but now that I think of it she was probably just trying to win us to her side."

Drake pushed past him. "The answer is no then," he extended his hand to Bumble Bee, "good to see you again."

She gave his hand a firm shake. "You too. So what brings you boys over this way?"

"I'm here cuz I need your help," he threw his thumb at Beast Boy, "he's here cuz he's bored without his girlfriend to pester."

She stuck out her lip. "Awe, poor beastie miss his waven?"

Anyone else would have been offended by her mockery, however Beast Boy hung his head pretending to sniffle. "Yes, I miss her so much." He placed his head on Drake's shoulder. "I only have Drake here to fill the void."

Bumble bee raised a brow with a sly smirk. "You two are too cute."

Drake grabbed him by his ear and twisted him off. "I need some help looking for someone."

She turned and headed to the main towers computer. "I'm not sure if we can help with that. Might want to go to the police?"

"Well if your computer systems are anything like Cyborgs, you should be able to find a penny at the bottom of the ocean. Besides working with the local authorities his way to many hoops I don't care to jump through."

She shrugged, he had a point, and their systems were designed by Cyborg so maybe this wouldn't be so hard. She pulled up a chair and typed onto the keyboard. "What exactly am I looking for?"

"Fire." He stated simply. "Try to find fires that have been started, accidentally or otherwise, in the last week or so."

"Alrighty." She went to work at the computer. "This Someone have a name?"

Drake dug around in his pocket for the orb and showed it to her. "I have no idea, but this will help me find them. Beast Boy helped lead me here now we just need to find them. He's like me. A Dragon Knight."

She nodded, but not with understanding. "Aliens and super powered people are one thing, but all that magic stuff I'll leave to someone else thank you."

He pocketed the orb. "And I'll leave the alien and super powers to you guys. Deal?"

"Works for me." She laughed. The consul at her fingertips dinged. "Alright so I've got five cases of fires being set. Mostly accidents that the fire department couldn't handle—"

"Those." He pointed to the screen. "Small and easily contained. Can you give me a list?"

"I'll print one out for ya?"

Drake turned around to find Beast Boy sifting through the Titans East fridge. "Beast Boy, get outta there and get over here."

Running over he gave a mock salute. "Yes sir!"

Drake rolled his eyes as Bumble Bee handed him the list. "We need to check these out."

He snatched the papers. "Sweet. Let's split up and find this guy."

Drake snatched them back. "We're not splitting up. The last thing I want is you freaking out whoever this is with all… you."

He scoffed. "Are you saying my greenness will freak them out?"

He shook his head with his eyes closed. "No, I'm saying you'll freak them out with your 'youness'." Drake got a bit more serious. "Whoever this is, is probably freaked out and we have to tread lightly with them. So approach with caution."

Beast Boy smiled and patted him on his shoulder. "Don't worry dude. I get it. I'll treat them like the delicate like doe that they are."

Drake, grateful that he was serious, stared back with a forced grin. "Do you think about the things that comes out of your mouth?"

Bumble Bee, even though she thought the banter between the two was hilarious, the buzzing of her communicator broke her concentration.

"If you guys to mind, I gotta take this." The two we're still bickering as they made there way from the tower. Shaking her head she answered the audio call to her communicator. "This is Bumble Bee."

" _Bumble Bee Hey, this is Monti."_

She twisted her face in confusion. "Who?"

" _Oh ha! Sorry. It's Officer Montgomery. I introduced myself to Terra as Monti, but she probably doesn't remember me. I tried contacting her, because she knew me, but she didn't answer so I thought, hey why not—"_

"Officer!"

" _Oh yeah,"_ he cleared his throat, " _Sorry. It's just that I'm not technically supposed to be talking to you and I'm not the kinda guy that goes behind his superiors backs, but I feel I have too."_

Now she was even more confused. "Um. Okay."

He sighed. " _I'll just, start from the beginning. There was a murder last night, specifically the mayor's daughter and initial findings indicate a meta human may be responsible. The higher up want to keep this container, but I think if we're dealing with a meta we're gonna need help from experts. Like you guys."_

Bumble Bee took a moment to absorb the information, the only thing resonating with her were the words, "Mayors daughter murdered". She leaned forward, now giving her full attention to Monti.

"Tell me everything."

— _ **:0:—**_

The first location was a large park placed in one of the more affluent neighborhoods of Steele City, it was also the most recent crime to take place. Late the previous evening a fire had started seemingly out of nowhere and had taken the rest of the night to put it out. Luckily police and firefighters where already in the area so the fire didn't get to out of hand.

The Titans had mingled into the crowd of onlookers behind the yellow caution tape, well Drake had. In order to "blend in" better, Beast Boy had taken the form of a spider and was nestled on his shoulder. Keeping his attention on the fire site, Drake took a long inhale the air recognizing the familiar smell of sulfur and brimstone.

"I need to get a closer look at that ash." He peeked at the spider from the corner of his eye, "Think you could cause a distraction?"

The arachnid scurried off of his shoulder, shifted into a beetle and made its way to the fire site. Discreetly, Drake maneuvered through the crowd, casually keeping his eyes on the emergency responders who suddenly began flailing and swatting at the air.

He smirked. "It's a bird, it's a squirrel, nope it's Beast Boy." Running the rest of the way, but keeping himself hidden he approached and took a pile of ash into his hands. Kneading the soil between his fingers he knew from the texture that this was ash caused by Dragon fire.

Now where was the one who caused it?

He checked the firefighters who had seemed to calm down. He couldn't see anything green zipping around their heads anymore, or anything green in general.

"Huh. Where'd he go?"

— _ **:0:—**_

Officer Charlie Kressel and Hunter Rollins pulled away from the fire site in their police cruiser, Kressel, in the passenger seat, pulled out his phone.

"Hey this is Charlie. I'm not sure if this is helpful, but we've captured a meta at the arson crime scene… I doubt he's a Titan he was green, pointy ears and fangs, kinda like an animal or something… so you're still thinking about this Ethan kid… well maybe this freak will lead us to him… alright take him to the usual place…. can do… meet ya there."

His partner, Rollins glanced at him once the phone clicked off. "Same place, same deal?"

"Yup. Good eye catching that kid changing into animals by our heads."

"I'm just glad we had a PCC on hand. No shape shifting today." The two continued chit chatting with each other about the Metahuman cuffed in their back seat before talking about the latest game, the weather, and so on.

 **The plot, like pudding, is starting to thicken.**


	6. He's BaAaAaAaAck

**Nothing clever to say. just enjoy.**

 **on with the show**

 **Chapter 6: He's baaaaaack**

" _...who the hell is that?"_

" _Does it matter? It's just some stupid meta?"_

" _We know these meta's like to team up, maybe this one knows where that Ethan kid is."_

" _And if he doesn't?"_

" _Then we kick the hell outta him and still have some fun."_

" _Ugh. Whatever. Just find Ethan, we need him to make sure this all goes away."_

" _Sure thing boss."_

" _Let's get this shit done!"_

— _ **:0:—**_

Beast Boy wasn't sure where he was, what had happened to him, or what was going on, but even in his groggy state he could discern three different voices speaking to one another. Lifting his head he felt something heavy lying on his neck, and cold metal on his wrists and ankles.

It didn't take long for him to arrive at a startling conclusion.

"Yup. Captured." He recognized the familiar steel chafing on his neck from a PCC, rendering him powerless. Panic began to grip his chest as it seemed the collar got tighter and tighter around his neck. Hyperventilating he pulled against the cuffs on his wrists and ankles, but wouldn't give.

"Okay, okay." He took a few deep breaths. "Stay calm dude. Drake will see your missing and come for ya. Hopefully."

"Hey. Look who's awake." Beast Boy blinked a few times in an attempt to clear his vision. Once the fog had cleared he could see two men standing in front of him. "Morning handsome."

Beast Boy furrowed his brows as he, examined the men. Average looking, but similar, a sort of military style with short hair cuts, angled jaw lines, thick brows and wide shoulders. Both of them smirking at one another like high school bullies about to pants the underclassmen.

An icy coldness slithered down Beast Boy's spine to coil in his gut. Guys like this didn't leave one alive unless they wanted something. And that meant… He snorted trying to maintain a sense of bravado, puffing out his chest and keeping a low tone to his voice. _What would Drake say?_ "Eat me!" The two men shared a gross puzzled look. _That didn't sound right._

One of the men looked him over, his smirk growing wider when his eyes met the beads of sweat slipping from his forehead.

Shrugging he took a step back. "Could you settle something for us?" He took out a cigarette and lit it before motioning to the other man. "So Hunter here says your some kind of demon,"

The one called Hunter, interrupted him. "And Charlie here thinks your just some deformed kid. Which one of us is right?" Forgetting his anxiety, he began snarling and curling his lip to reveal his fangs. "Demon!" Hunter fist pumped. "Called it."

"Damn it," Charlie pulled out a wallet, removed a few bills and handed them to Hunter. Charlie took another drag of his cigarette, approached his captive and blew the smoke into his face. "Next question. Where's Ethan Conners?"

Now Beast Boy was genuinely puzzled. "Who?"

Charlie backhanded him, but proved to be a mistake on his part. "Son of a bitch!"

Beast Boy licked his lips, tasting blood on his fangs and let out a small chuckle. _Come on think of something witty_. "No Fang you." _Okay even I know that's stupid._

Charlie held his injured hand close. "Fucking hell." He turned around, but called over his shoulder to Hunter. "Start working him over. I need to take care of this."

Hunter cracked his knuckles. "I thought you'd never ask." He removed his jacket and began wrapping it around his knuckles. "I repeat, where's Ethan Conners? We know you freaks like to team up so might as well spill your guts." He put his face inches from Beast Boy's. "Before I spill them for you."

Beast Boy snarled, this time with frustration. "I don't know who that is, but do your worst." _Now that's a total Drake thing to say._

— _ **:0:—**_

Monti paced back and forth hidden in the shadows of the alleyway, his hands rubbing together anxiously. He reached for his phone to check the time, and amazingly not much time had passed since he last checked it two seconds ago.

Sighing he asked aloud. "This is the right thing to do right?" _But your commanding officer said not too._ He scoffed at his inner monologue. "That doesn't mean this isn't the smart thing to do." _But he gave you an order, and your disobedience will have consequences to your career_ _ **.**_ "But a girl is dead and the Titans could help!"

His sudden outburst to no one was followed by an eerie silence until a confused voice spoke. "Monti? Uh, you okay?"

He spun around, alluring blue eyes looking him over with concern, the other super powered Teens just as puzzled.

He smiled nervously, but was less of a smile and more just one side of his mouth opening. "Sorry I was just, um, talking to… myself."

Kid Flash snorted. "Oh yeah that sounds normal."

Monti scratched the back of his neck as Terra elbowed Kid Flash in the ribs. Bumble bee shook her head at their behavior and approached the officer.

"What can we do to help?"

"Bumble Bee has already informed us of the situation," said Donna, "we're so sorry about the loss of this young woman."

He nodded, accepting her condolences. "Thanks. To answer your question Bumble Bee," he opened his mouth to speak, but with nothing coming out he simply threw up his hands, "I don't know."

"Well what are the facts?" Terra asked.

He took a deep breath. "Late Last night, Emily Rasmussen was killed. Judging by the crime scene, it looked like she was killed by some kind of wild animal. Since there aren't any wild animals that are, ya know, capable of what I saw, the next best guess would be a metahuman." .

Bumble Bee looked at the ground, thinking for a moment before turning away from him. "S'cuse me." Wrapping her arms around her team, she motioned for them to follow her to the other end of the alley. Once they were out of earshot she asked her, "Any ideas?"

"We've dealt with some powerful adversaries," Donna said lowly, "but I've never gotten the impression any of them were capable of killing, especially a child."

Kid Flash rubbed his chin. "He said it was some wild animal, you don't think maybe Beast Boy—"

He felt a hard punch to his shoulder. "Of course not moron." Terra scolded. "Besides she was killed last night and he didn't get here till this morning." Terra removed her communicator when it began buzzing in one of her pouches. "Speak of the Devil." She flipped her device open. "What's up Drake—"

" _Is he with you?"_

She looked at the small screen with furrowed brows, her team looking over her shoulder as she spoke to him. "Uh, he who?"

Drake rolled his eyes. " _Santa Clause. Beast Boy! Is he with you?"_

Her teammates all shared the same confused stare. "No. Why?"

Drake grunted in frustration. " _I seemed to have lost the little green turd."_

Kid Flash made a mock gagging noise. "As we attempt to get that image out of our heads, how can you lose him? Ya know? Green."

" _We got separated at the park and now I can't find him."_ He looked behind him at an establishment and cringed. " _I even tried looking for him at this veggie, hippie, bark eating place. Ugh. Now I need to wash."_

Bumble bee shook her head, just as her own communicator began buzzing. "God now what?"

"Titans!" Monti called to the team, his radio placed on his shoulder sparkling with chatter they couldn't make out. Meanwhile Bumble Bee's communicator was informing her of an attack in the city. "I think we're being called to the same thing."

Now that they were closer to Monti, they would hear what it was his radio was saying.

" _All units respond to possible Metahuman attack, possible suspect in the Emily Rasmussen murder, proceed with caution."_

Another voice on the same frequency. " _Commissioner Thornton speaking. This meta is dangerous, your ordered to shoot on sight."_

Monti clicked his radio. "Say again? You want us—"

" _This meta killed Emily Rasmussen, my best friends daughter and severely burned a group of park goers. I repeat. Shoot on sight."_

Monti looked apprehensively at the Titans, each looking just as worried. Bumble Bee grabbed Terra's communicator.

"Did you hear that Drake? Sounds like it could be your guy." Looking down at the now black screen she cursed. "Titans, and Monti, let's go."

— _ **:0:—**_

"Well this is… interesting!" Monti had his arms wrapped around Terra's waist as the geomancer used her powers to float a boulder towards the city. Hopefully she was aware that he was referring to the fact that he was flying on a rock.

She shrugged, as the hand that wasn't being used to float the boulder tugged at his arm. "You can loosen your grip you know. I won't let you fall."

He spared a glance over the rock at the city, feeling his heart rate spike. "Uh…. oh look we're here." His eyes widened at the scene. "Oh man."

Terra shared the same shock. It was the typical standoff that she had seen before. Cops on the one side with weapons aimed at at the ready while they waited for the Titans. On the other side, was the young man the police had been looking for.

She had seen him many times before whenever the mayor had a party of some sort. She remembered the beautiful music he would play from the piano and though he seemed shy, he seemed like a nice guy.

Now she didn't even recognize him.

"Land over there." Monti pointed to a woman in a business suit, moving back and forth behind the blockade speaking to someone on her phone. Terra recognized her as the police captain, Charlene Deblase.

Seeing the Titans land beside her, Deblase was now practically yelling into her phone. "William, the Titans are here, I'll let them—Will—" frustrated she hung up the phone.

"What was that—"

Charlene looked past Monti at the leader of the Titans. "You need to handle this. Thornton's out for blood and wants us to put him down."

Shocked, Bumble Bee asked, "Wh-why? He's just a kid."

Charlene shrugged. "I don't know, but hurry. It won't take long before someone here gets an itchy trigger finger."

Quickly, Bumble Bee turned to her team. "Donna, Kid, use the lasso and try to contain him. Terra, make sure no one opens fire. I'll try to talk to him." The all gave collective nods and took their positions.

Bumble Bee buzzed towards the agitated young man, Terra erected a wall of earth in front of the police barricade while Donna, with Kid Flash, maneuvered themselves around Ethan. Ready at an instant to restrain him.

Covered in blood and anxiously moving back and forth Bumble Bee called out, "Ethan? Ethan Connors?" He paused, facing away from her. "My name is Bumble Bee, I'm a Teen—"

"I know who you are!" He growled. He bent over, clutching at his stomach and letting out a howl of pain. She flinched when his cries reminded her of a wounded animal.

She continued. "I'm here to help you—"

He spun around. Eyes large and wild with rage, but also, fear. "YOU CANT HELP ME!"

"Yes I can!" She stared forcefully. "I need you to trust me!"

Ethan grabbed at the sides of his head to cover his ears. "Why is it so loud? WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME!"

Her eyes flitted to Donna and Kid Flash who were ready to detain him. "I don't know, but we're going to help you, I promise." Kid Flash, one end of the lasso in his hands, quickly wrapped it around Ethan.

Donna pulled the lasso taunt as it began to glow. "The lasso compels you!" She shouted. "Speak the truth! Did you kill that girl?!"

Ethan glared with red hot malice. "NO!" He pushed off from the ground, slamming himself into Donna until the two of them smashed into a nearby car. The lasso around him loosened, giving him the chance to slip out.

Kid Flash zoomed to her side. "I'm fine," she exclaimed, "stop him!" He looked past her, but Ethan had somehow vanished into the chaos.

"Crap." He zoomed away hoping to find him.

— _ **:0:—**_

An irate Dragon Knight landed with a "boom" where the Titans East agreed to meet him. After their interference, Commissioner Thornton made it clear he didn't want them anywhere near his investigation. Needing to regroup, they hurried to a rooftop a mile away from the attack and told Drake to meet him there.

Obviously, he wasn't in the best of moods.

Changing back into his human form, he approached with narrowed eyes. "What happened?!"

Bumble Bee ignored his growling. "We had a setback and he got away."

He looked over the Titans one by one. "How? You have an Amazon, a fast guy, you, and a geomancer? How can you lose him!?"

"Hey!" She barked, "watch your attitude. Not only did we have to worry about him, but the cops were told and ready to put bullets in him. Did you want that?!"

Severely chastised, he snorted steam from his nostrils. "Sorry." He ran his hands through his hair. "I lost Beast Boy, I keep losing this kid, I'm just a little…"

The tension settled. "I think we should split up," Terra said suddenly, "half of us go look for Beast Boy while the others look for Ethan."

"Usually a good idea," Kid Flash started, "but where do we start looking."

Donna put her finger to her chin. "I am with Kid Flash. Time is if the essence and we can't afford to wander aimlessly around the city."

There was a sudden gust of wind that drew their attention to the other side of the rooftop where a young man in a black trench coat and flowing white hair had been watching them. With a scarf covering his mouth he examined the troubled team of titans before speaking.

"Perhaps I can be of assistance."

Drake reached into a holster at his hip and drew one of his sister's revolvers with a sarcastic greeting. "Hey Malchior!" Drake took the pistol and aimed it between his eyes. "Welcome to next time."

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" The Titans, eyes wide with horror, hurried to his side. "You just gonna shoot him dead right here in front of us?!"

Seemingly confused he looked back at the Titan leader before casually saying, "Yeah."

As he pulled the hammer back Malchior spoke. "Do that and you'll lose any chance of saving this city when that boy goes, how you say, nuclear?"

Drake paused a moment before once again speaking in a casual manner. "I'm good with that." and readied himself to pull the trigger.

The Titans East stood between the two, Bumble Bee now more concerned than ever. "Hold on a second. What do you mean "go nuclear"?"

Drake still had the gun trained on Malchior. "Don't listen to a thing he says. He's known for being nothing but a liar."

Malchior quirked a brow. "I see. So you've already explained to them that, if left unchecked, that boy's dragon form will be released and reduce this city to ashes by nightfall? Am I correct?"

Drake narrowed his eyes. "Drake? Is he telling the truth?" Bumble Bee asked. "Is Ethan going to go nuclear?"

He rolled his eyes as he lowered the gun. "I was hoping to find him before that happened."

Malchior glanced at the weapon in Drake's hand. "Are Those Cynthia's guns?"

He brought the gun back in between Malchior's eyes.

"Okay okay!" Pushing him back, the Titans stood between them. "Do not worry of him lying. The lasso will make sure of that."

His silver eyes flitted to the rope at her hip. "Charming, but unnecessary. I know where the boy is, and also the location of your green friend."

"You know where he is?" Once again the Titans had to hold Drake back.

He smirked. "I've been monitoring you fools since you first came to this city. Don't feel bad That I arrived here first."

"Okay forget him and Ethan or whatever," Terra finally stated, "is Beast Boy Okay?"

He shrugged. "I doubt it. Time is a factor. He was taken by two gentlemen that seemed eager to do him harm."

"Tell me where he is, I'll find him."

Drake put his hand on her shoulder. "No I need to find the little green pinhead."

"Why not employ the blondes plan?" Malchior suggested. "Splitting up?"

Drake narrowed his eyes, remembering the gun in his hand. "Yeah, that's not happening."

Malchior's eyes sparked with something Drake could only describe as deviousness. "It almost sounds like you don't trust these Titans."

"I trust them fine. I don't want you within a hundred yards of this kid."

"Well maybe he's better off with this fine group." Malchior inched towards Drake. "I mean do you think you have what it takes to train him, teach him, provide a family?"

Amazingly, Drake couldn't think of anything to say. What exactly was his plan? Find him? Take him back to Jump city and force him to be a knight like his father did to him. He had no idea, but what he did know was that Malchior couldn't get his claws in him.

"Alright here's what we'll do," Bumble Bee said firmly, "Drake, you and Terra go get Beast Boy, the rest of us will go after Ethan. More of us go the Better chance this guy doesn't do anything funny." She jammed her thumb at Malchior who feigned hurt.

"I'm sure if you got to know me we'd all be fast friends. Just ask dear Raven. She fell for me hard after only a day."

Drake's eyes flashed with fire. "Trust me, your going to die for THAT."

Malchior ignored his taunts. "Yes, yes kill me and all that. Shall we?"

He turned his back on the Titans and prepared to leave. Drake grabbed Bumble Bee by her arm to whisper in her ear.

"Keep a sharp eye on him. He can't be trusted."

She grinned. "Don't worry. I've got good instincts too and this guy won't get far after we take Ethan in. Count on it."

The team separated neither side having any idea what to expect.


	7. The White Dragon

**These next chapters will be easy to write since there not as boring.**

 **Chapter 7: the White Dragon**

His head was pounding, his eyes swollen shut, lip split, hands broken, shins cracked, and ears ringing. Even through the ringing in his ears he was able to pick out the muffled voices of Hunter and Charlie standing over him. They had taken a break from beating him when they had gotten a phone call. Still strapped to the chair he had been pushed to the ground, facing away from the two men, but he did his best to keep his ears on the conversation.

"Alright I'll let him know." Charlie clicked the phone off. "That was Thornton. They had the kid, but thanks to the fucking Titans, he got away."

Hunter cursed under his breath. "So what about, that thing?" Beast Boy was positive they were referring to him.

"Meh, I say we keep having fun. I'm actually curious to see what it can do."

"Yeah, like why is it green? Maybe it just pukes green sludge or something."

Beast Boy could hear they're footsteps coming toward him. "I say we find out. Hey if it's anything cool we could probably sell it to the highest bidder." Keys began jingling by Beast Boy's ear. "We're gonna see what you can do, freak. We've got guns, so no funny business." Taking one of the keys, he placed it into one of the holes on the collar and turned, shutting down the device and removing it from his neck. "Alright now, lets-AGH!"

Bones, muscles and flesh knit themselves together. The pain vanished along with any semblance of the happy-go-lucky, green shape changer. Instead stood a hulking eight foot tall, black werebeast with its claws wrapped around Charlie's throat. Charlie wriggled in its grip as he was lifted into the air. It's maw open wide as it licked its fangs before running its tongue over Charlie's head.

The noise was split with a loud crack as shots began to ring out. Hunter was attempting to bring the creature down, but each bullet that pierced its skin was quickly pushed out and sealed back together. The black Beast roared. Not with pain, but hunger and rage.

Black Beast was back and he was pissed.

— _ **:0:—**_

They had flown separately, but Drake could feel the geomancers eyes on him for most of the flight to the foreclosed home. He didn't know much about her, but from what little he did know it was all negative. Still he tried to keep an open mind. That stuff was all in the past after all. Just as long as she knew to keep her relationship with Beast Boy professional.

They landed, Drake becoming human again and Terra tossing aside her boulder.

"This the place?" She asked.

"That's what Melchior said," the name left a bad taste in his mouth, "can't believe I'm listening to that asshat again."

Terra cringed from the small embers he was spitting. "Bad blood I'm guessing? What happened?"

He made his way to the house. "Long story. Just know he's the bad guy and as soon as we—" he froze midstep, holding out his hand to stop her from moving further.

"What? What is it?"

He took a long sniff of the air and his lip curled into a snarl. "I smell blood."

Immediately they took off for the house, kicking the door in and followed the scent until they came to a room in the back of the house. Once they had gotten there, Terra began gagging on the fresh smell of blood, but Drake blocked her path to keep her from seeing what was inside.

Beast Boy sat on his knees, blood staining his skin, uniform and dripping from his lips and teeth. Strewn Around him were the bits and pieces of, from what he could tell, two men. Quickly assessing the room, just like Robin had taught him, he could see guns, the tipped over chair with bloody straps, and the PCC.

It was simple to deduce what had happened to him.

He ran to him, kneeling to eye level and calling his name. "Beast Boy! Beast Boy! Beast Boy!" Nothing. His normally bright and exuberant eyes were dull and rooted to the floor as if he was in a whole other world. Drake brought the palm of his hand across his face, "GAR!"

Beast Boy took a sharp inhale as some form of life coming back into his eyes, but also realization. They started darting all over the room from Drake to Terra to the bodies on the floor.

"Oh.. god… I—"

Drake grabbed him by his shoulders and shook him, jamming his finger into his chest. "Gar look at me. It was them or you. No NOT feel guilty for defending yourself."

He acted as if he hadn't heard him, but instead went a paler shade of green. "I...I… killed…"

"Drake," he turned around seeing Terra digging in the pockets of one of the men and revealed a badge, "they're cops."

Drake snorted, "Of course they are. Then what were they doing torturing him." Terra began sputtering, her blue eyes looking down at the carnage in shock. Drake ran to her. "Hey, stay with me. Get Gar outta here and I'll meet you two outside." She nodded her head quickly then did as she was told.

Terra wrapped Beast Boy's arm around her shoulders, hoisted him to his feet, and led him out of the house, While Drake went to the two men. Digging around in their pockets he found one of their cell phones and began going through the recent contacts. After mumbling off a few names to memorize them he dialed a number.

" _911 what is your emergency?"_

"Yes I'm at a foreclosed home on 45 snake river drive, there are two bodies here that look like they were attacked by some wild animal." Without waiting for a response he crushed the phone in his hand to bits and tossed it aside.

— _ **:0:—**_

Noise.

So much noise.

Voices.

What were they saying? Were they even human.

Flashes. Visions. Smells. Sounds.

It was as if someone had taken his basic five senses and dialed them up to twenty. He could hear everything, see so much father, and smell so much more.

But everything was chaos.

So he ran. He ran away from the noise, away from the smells and sights, but couldn't get away.

In between the images of strangers staring at him were mixtures of red and white being splashed against his eyes like paint. Entrails. Red. Blood. A pair of lifeless eyes. Emily's eyes.

Emily….

Emily….

"EMILY!"

Fire pierced his skull like a hot iron, causing him to cry out in excruciating agony. He grabbed the sides of his head, leaning backwards and crying out to the heavens. The pain slowly began to fade as he felt his body surrender to something else entirely.

— _ **:0:—**_

"And here we are." Malchior gestured to the parking garage.

Bumble Bee looked over the garage, her eyes moving up to the office building above. She faced him with a stern look. "You sure?"

Malchior turned his head to each of the Titans, each of whom were showing the same amount of distrust. He smirked beneath his scarf. "Of course I'm sure. Contrary to what Drake May say, I wouldn't lie about something like this."

"What exactly is supposed to happen?" Kid Flash asked. "What does 'going nuclear' mean?"

An ear splitting roar sounded from the darkness of the parking garage forcing civilians to begin evacuating from the office complex above.

Malchior casually glanced in the direction of the ensuing chaos. "I believe we're about to find out. Shall we?"

Bumble bee took to the sky. "Kid, start getting people out of there, Donna your with me. Malchior—"

"Stop him from reducing this city to cinders. Way ahead of you." Out of the corner of her eye she, noted that Malchior had taken a small book from his coat pocket and began thumbing through it.

She left him to his own devices while she and Donna flew into the garage.

"Great Hera!" They stopped mid air once they saw the grotesque sight before them.

Ethan had appeared to be in the middle of some type of transformation, changing his skin, size and shape. Already he had grown to the point that his head was hitting the concrete ceiling, skin was shifting to scales, and extra appendages, such as a tail and wings, began protruding from his body. He curled over as pain rippled through his body, causing him to let out a roar of pain, shaking the garage to its foundation.

Bumble Bee searched for Malchior, finding him just staring at The monstrosity in awe. "Malchior! Look alive!" He continued gaping at the scene as if she hadn't spiked. "MALCHIOR!"

He jolted out of his stupor. "Apologies."

She shook her head with an eye roll. "Donna lets go." They flew towards the ever changing Ethan, Donna using her lasso to bring him down and Bumble Bee using her stingers. "Ethan! It's the Titans!"

He roared, now in irritation, and began swatting at the Titans, all the while he continued his transformation. Donna threw the lasso around his neck and with what strength she could muster attempted to bring him down. It worked…. for the moment. With each passing second he got larger, stronger and more annoyed.

He roared one last time, lunging at the Amazon until a wave of violet energy began pushing through the garage. Ethan double over again, but this time it was in the reverse. His body shrank, wings, tail and scales retreating back into his body until he was merely an exhausted mess on the ground.

Donna removed the lasso from the now human Ethan, Bumble Bee and Kid Flash joined her.

"Civilians out and safe." He reported. Looking down at the unconscious Etha he asked, "What the hell happened here?"

"A spell." Malchior joined the Titans, motioning to the pillar behind him. A symbol in the shape of a dragon's eye and painted in blood, was surging with the same violet energy from before. "That symbol will keep Dragon Knights from using their powers as long as magic flows through it."

"So he's powerless?" Donna sermised. "As are you?"

"Indeed." Malchior removed the same book from before from his coat. "However even though I can't use my dragon based powers, I can still call upon the sorcery that I studied centuries ago." He flipped through the pages of his book. "I do wish to thank you. Couldn't have done it without the Teen Titans." Green energy shot out from the pages of his book, enveloping the Titans and rendering them unconscious.

— _ **:0:—**_

Flapping his massive wings Drake inched himself closer to Terra and her floating boulder. Really he was checking on the changeling as he curled himself into the feedle position at her feet.

"How is he?" The answer was obvious, but he had to ask.

She shook her head. "He's still in shock."

Out of the corner of his eye, Drake could see they were coming up on the parking Garage where Malchior said Ethan would be. Judging by the crowd of frightened civilians, they were in the right place.

"Alright I don't know what we're getting into, just keep an eye on him until—" his necklace flashed a blue light, involuntarily changing him back into his human form, "What the f—YAH!"

Thinking quickly, even if she had no idea what was happening, Terra tore out a scrap of pavement to catch him as he plummeted dangerously to the ground. Even though he was still mid air, he managed to land. Hard.

"I'm guessing that wasn't supposed to happen?" She asked as soon as they touched solid ground.

Coughing and clutching his ribs he got to his feet. "Nope. That's never happened to me before."

She snickered. "Maybe you can try again after thirty minutes or something? Maybe rest a little bit?"

He glared daggers. "I know what your doing and knock it off."

"Let me guess." She continued laughing. "'This happens, but not to me'. Every man suffers performance issues I hear."

Growling, he noticed that she had been setting up these jokes for Beast Boy to possibly latch on too. Unfortunately he wasn't taking the bait.

Although he was understanding, Drake didn't have time for this at the moment.

"Come on." Limping and still grabbing at his ribs, he led the way into the garage, moving past the crowd of pedestrians in their way. With Beast Boy's arm wrapped around her own, she helped guide him inside. Even though the light may have been on in his head, no one was home.

"Ah Damn it!" Drake wasn't at all surprised to see that the Titans were on the ground of the garage, out cold. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Hey," Terra helped Beast Boy into a seated position against a pillar, the same pillar a symbol was glowing, "What's this?"

Drake eyed the symbol with confusion. "I've never seen that before."

Terra looked at Beast Boy, then grinned. "What the awesome Drake doesn't know a magical thingamagig?" Once again, Drake knew what she was doing, but again, there was no movement from the changeling.

Drake shook his head as he got to his knee in front of him. "Gar, I know this is hard, but I need you back with us."

Beast Boy's eyes lifted to meet Drake's. "I…"

Drake put a hand on his shoulder. "I know. Yes it's hard and takes a toll, and I promise I'll help you through it. But I have to find Malchior."

Beast Boy perked up a bit. "Malchior? He's here?"

Drake nodded. "And he has the Dragon Knight. We both know that's not good."

Beast Boy nodded, and his lip twitched upward. "Go kick his ass then."

Drake patted him on his shoulder. "Way ahead of ya. Watch him."

Terra nodded as he got to his feet. "Wait, do you know where he is?"

Drake looked at the symbol. "If that thing shut down our powers, he should still be in the area to keep Ethan's in check. Just gotta find him." With that in mind, he took off searching for Ethan.

— _ **:0:—**_

Ethan's eyes snapped open with a sharp inhale of breath. He quickly got to a seated position on the floor and began searching his surroundings frantically. He appeared to be in some kind of office building, which amazingly was empty. _Wasn't it like three in the afternoon?_ He gasped again. _I can hear my own thoughts! It's quiet._

"Hello there." He jumped at the voice. Voice belonging to a young man seated on a chair in front of him dressed in black with a scarf around his mouth. "Good to see you up and awake. Ethan is it?"

Ethan looked him over with a grimace. "Isn't it kind warm for all that black? And a scarf?"

The stranger chuckled. "I suppose I could lose the coat, but the scarf," he lowered it an inch showing off a jagged scar across his jaw and under his nose, "is here to stay."

Ethan nodded in understanding, but before he knew it, panic began set in. "Who are you? What's happening?"

"It's alright my friend," Malchior held out his hand to settle him, "Your safe. Even from yourself. The spell I've placed will keep any Dragon Knight in this area from using their powers? A shut off switch, if you will."

More confusion. "Dragon Knight? Powers? What the hell are you talking about?"

He chuckled again. "Perhaps I should start at the beginning. My name is Malchior and I am like you, only you my friend, are far more important than me." He reached into his coat and removed a book bound in purple scaled leather with a emerald gem in the center. "This gem," he pointed to it, "allows me to control the dragon inside of me, and properly trained, you can too."

Ethan looked down at the book then back at Malchor's silver eyes. "And there's more to it." He continued, "The dragon inside of you, the great white dragon, was worshiped as a god in its lifetime. You are something unique, Ethan, and you've already demonstrated great power, and with the proper training, can truly be a force to be reckoned with."

Malchior extended his hand and helped Ethan to his feet. "All I'm asking is that you come with me, and I will teach you everything it is you need to know."

Ethan contemplated what he was being told, but had more questions. "Why was I freaking out?"

Malchior put a hand on his shoulder. Ethan tried to recoil but his grip was too tight. "You are young and new to your powers. It is not uncommon. The dragon inside of you begged for release considering the extreme stress you were under." Ethan twisted his features. "Yes, I know about your lady friend, and I am so sorry for your loss."

It all came flowing back to him. His chest got tight and he began to hyperventilate. "Emily, sh-She…" Malchior helped guide him to his knees when he lost the feeling in his legs.

"I know. I know what it's like to lose someone you loved. Someone I once loved betrayed me, and it hurt dearly, but I swear to you, we will find the ones responsible and make them pay."

Ethan glanced at him and noted the tenderness in his voice. To anyone else they would be touched by his quick story, but Ethan knew better. He took a moment to gather himself before getting back to his feet.

"I knew someone who told me a lot of the same things your telling me. Saying I was special, that I was unique and important, but in the end he was just telling me what I wanted to hear so that he could take something he wanted from me. Since then I don't trust easily, especially not someone whose making me the same empty promises."

Ethan backed away from him. "I don't know who you are, or what's happening with me, but I'm not going with you. I will not allow myself to be taken advantage of again. And if I freak out again I'll deal with it, but I I'm not going with you."

Malchior regarded him for a moment, his calm and kind persona fading away. "I see." He turned around, thumbing through his book. "That being the case, I find myself having no use for you." He turned back around, a glowing green dagger floating above the open pages of his book. "Pity." The blade, as though it was thrown, flung itself at Ethan's heart.

He shut his eyes and braced himself for the dagger to enter his body. Instead he felt nothing. Was this what being stabbed felt like? Surely he would feel something. He opened his eye a crack to see the dagger had been caught inches from his chest.

— _ **:0:—**_

Ethan was lucky that Drake had found him when he had, a second later and he would be dead. Drake tossed aside the magical blade until it evaporated into nothing.

Malchior scoffed. "Drake Daniels to the rescue once again."

Drake smirked. "I'm just glad you turned the power off. Makes it much easier beat the hell outta you, and since I believe in being fair, I'll make you a deal." Drake removed loaded belt of weapons and handed them to Ethan. He took it, regardless if he had no idea what was happening. "Man to man, no weapons, or magic."

Malchior tensed, gripping his book nervously. Drake couldn't help but grin seeing his obvious discomfort. Finally, he had one up on Malchior. "Let me guess. You've spent so much time on your magic and sorcery that you haven't bothered with any hand to hand skills? Am I right?"

Malchior clenched his jaw, slowly backing away. Seeing that he was attempting to escape Drake hurried towards him.

"What's the old saying?" Malchior struggled to move out of Drakes reach, while flipping through his book. "'He who lives and runs away, lives to fight again another day'?" Drake had grabbed him by his coat, but violet Magic was already surging from his book. "See you around Daniels." With a bright explosion, Malchior was gone.

Drake spun around, his anger building, but couldn't find Malchior anyone. "DAMN IT!" He ran his hands through his hair tempted to curse again, but then remembered he wasn't alone. Or at least wasn't supposed to be. His belt was now on the ground and Ethan was nowhere in sight. "Damn it all to hell." He grabbed his belt and headed for the doors, hurriedly looking the new Dragon Knight.

Stepping into the hallway with offices on both sides, he called out, "Kid!" He glanced through the windows into the offices, hoping to find him. "It's alright I'm not gonna hurt you, I just—"

"Freeze!"

At the end of the hallway, two police officers had their guns aimed at him, and behind those two, were a group of other policemen arresting Ethan.

 _Crap,_ he thought, _they must have come here when Ethan hulked out._

"Drop the belt," one of the officers demanded, "and get on the ground."

Normally Drake would have taken both of them down, then had gotten him and Ethan out of there, but this was a completely different situation. Doing something like that was likely to frighten Ethan more than he already was and right now he had to think about him.

Sighing he drops the belt and does as he's told, getting on his knees and putting his hands behind his head.


	8. Mark of the damned

**Chapter 8: Mark of the Damned**

Captain Deblase let out a huge sigh of relief when she had received the call that Ethan Conners had been arrested. True it was a relief that he was finally captured, but the hard part was yet to come. Now it was her job to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ethan was guilty of murder.

She put her head and her hands as a knock sounded at her door. "Captain?" Officer Monti greeted, "I hate to leave ya like this, but I was hoping to clock out for the night."

She moved her head to look out the window. "Look at that. It's night." She rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands. "Come in Monti, shut the door behind you." He did as he was instructed, but was obviously puzzled by her request. "As much as I'd love to let you off, I would actually appreciate it if you stayed a bit longer."

He tilted his head. "Ooooookay? May I ask why?"

She stood up and pulled out her phone, clicking over to the map application. "I got a call a few minutes ago, Charlie and Hunt were killed, supposedly by a wild animal."

His eyes went large. "Th-their dead?"

She nodded. "Logically we would think it was the same meta that killed Emily. Maybe Ethan." She zoomed in on an area on her phone. "We found him at the Chase Offices here," she swiped to a different edge of the map, "Charlie and Hunt were found here."

His brows scrunched together. "That's like on completely different sides of the city."

She clicked her phone off. "Exactly. Either Ethan can teleport—"

"Or there's another attacker?" Monti finished.

She tapped her nose. "Exactly."

"This is all kinda crazy, Captain, but what does that have to do with me staying later?"

She breathed a sigh. "Charlie and Hunter were not supposed to be over there, and that's only one instance in a long line of infractions coming from those two. And not just them either." She faced him with a serious look. "Bottom line is I'm not entirely sure who I should be trusting." She leaned back against her desk, allowing what she was telling him to sink in. "I have good instincts about people, and I have a feeling that I can trust you. Am I right?"

He was still a bit shocked by everything she had been saying, but he managed a smile and mock salute. "You can count on me Cap."

She smiled with a small roll of her eyes as someone began knocking at the door. "Yeah."

The door opened, a balding Officer sticking his head inside. "He's here Captain."

She nodded. "Be right out." She made her way to the door, whispering to Monti as she passed him. "Do as I say, and stay close." He followed behind her as she walked into her precinct. All of the police officers had turned their heads from the Captain back to the young man being led cuffs. Deblase looked him over, noting the blood on his clothes and some splashed onto his face.

Ethan was brought to Captain Deblase, the officers leading him asking what it was she wanted done with him. "Get his clothes, take samples and get him some fresh ones. Then take him to interrogation room two." The officers nodded and led Ethan away.

She turned to Monti. "Go with them. Make sure he makes it to the interrogation room in one piece." He was confused, but followed her orders and followed after Ethan and his fellow officers.

"Captain Deblase," she turned to more of her officers leading another young man in cuffs, "we found this one with him. He says he's a Teen Titan." She looked him up and down, noting his black coat, diamond necklace, and smile on his face. "He had these on him."

The officer handed over a belt loaded with pouches and weapons. She looked over the guns and blades with a raised brow. "You have a permit for these?"

The "Teen Titan" grinned. "Those are registered under the Superhuman weapons act. Stating that any item used by a member of any superhuman organization is legal. You'll find all the necessary paperwork in the third pouch."

She dug through the pouch, finding a laminated card and a yellow Titans communicator. Her eyes ran over the card seeing his name and other information she needed was in order. "Drake Daniels. Impressive. I haven't even seen these on our local Titans."

He shrugged still grinning. "My team leader, Robin, practically forced me to carry that damn thing everywhere I go. Guess it actually came in handy."

The side of her lip twitched before replacing the items. "Let him go. He's a Teen Titan after all." The arresting officer begrudgingly began to undo the cuffs.

"Thank you sir," released, Drake took his belt back, but Deblase wasn't finished with him.

With folded arms she asked, "May I ask what you were doing with the suspect?"

Drake repeated with confusion. "Suspect?"

She nodded. "Ethan Connors is wanted for questioning in a murder investigation."

His eyes widened with surprise, but then narrowed in thought. "He doesn't seem like a killer."

She dismissed his statement going back to her original question. "What were you doing with the suspect? Were you planning on bringing him in? Surely as a Teen Titan you have a responsibility to bring any Metahuman to us, especially one needed for questioning."

Drake thought for a moment before deciding to respond. "I was looking for him, because he's like me." She raised a brow. "Can we step into your office to talk?" She narrowed her brows, feeling exhausted and not really in the mood for anything new, but at this point she couldn't argue that she could use all the information she could get.

She motioned for him to follow her and once they were hidden behind closed doors he explained as best he could about Ethan, at least anything on a need to know basis. The one part that seemed to pique her interest the most was the part about the boy being part dragon. This of course made him part animal.

"So your also one of these, Dragon spirit people?"

He rolled his eyes. "If that helps you, Yes."

She removed a file from her desk and showed him one of the photos inside, the photo of Emily Rasmussen. "In your opinion, would Ethan be capable of this?"

His jaw tightened and nostrils flared. "No. Ethan is fresh born, making him more dragon than human under extreme stress. This being the case Dragons don't kill just because, they defend themselves only. No this, is… something…" his voice faded when something in the photo seemed to have captured his attention.

"What is it?" She asked.

He was quiet for a moment. "I'm not sure."

There was a knock at her door, followed by Officer Monti poking his head inside. "Ethan is ready in the interrogation room."

She muttered a thanks, and made her way to the door. Before she left, she grabbed the files and photos from Drake's hands. "Don't go anywhere. Monti, stay with him." She eyed both of them, especially Drake, silently willing him to do as he was told. However if her instincts about people were correct, that wasn't likely.

— _ **:0:—**_

Drake waited a few minutes before making his way for the door.

"Ah, ah, where do you think your going?" Monti asked with his hand to Drake's chest.

As if Monti hadn't said a thing, Drake asked, "You guys got a morgue in this building? And I'm assuming the girl is there?"

Monti looked somewhat disgusted. "Yeah, it's downstairs, but you can't just—" Drake grabbed his wrist and twisted, getting Monti to the floor and out of his way, "ow! Why would you do that?" Stepping over him and out of the office he looked for the elevator or stairs, but instead found Beast Boy hurrying inside the precinct. Behind him, Terra was grabbing at his arm and trying to stop him.

"Beast B—what the hell are you doing here?" Drake asked.

He reacted as if he hadn't heard him, but now they were close enough that Drake could hear what it was Terra was saying. "Drake, talk some sense into him, he's wanting to turn himself in."

Drake instinctively reached out, putting his hand on his shoulders to stop him. "What? Why?"

Beast Boy looked up at him like he was insane. "Dude, isn't it obvious? I—". Drake grabbed him by his mouth, picked him up and started carrying him outside the precinct. Terra close behind them.

The other police officers watched the exchange, asking if everything was alright. "We're good. My green friend here is just being an idiot." Quickly Drake ducked into the nearest bathroom. "Stay here." Terra scoffed a "no kidding" and did as she was told. Drake tossed Beast Boy onto the counter like he was a child before looking through the rest of the bathroom to make sure they were alone.

"Dude what is your deal?" He asked hopping off the counter.

Once Drake had made sure the bathroom was clear, he turned to Beast Boy. "I'm trying to stop you from doing something stupid."

"This isn't stupid. This is the right thing to do." He lowered his head and the tone of his voice. "I killed someone Drake. Two someone's."

Drake felt his heart break for the changeling. _That's a new one_. Then realized that Beast Boy had been cleaned up of blood and was in a new uniform, but he filed that away for the time being. "Gar, listen to me." Drake grabbed him by his shoulders so that he could meet him in the eyes. "I know what your going through. Your feeling guilty, ashamed, your scared, but this isn't the way to go about this."

He scoffed and shook his hands off his shoulders. "Yeah right. I've never hurt anyone before in my life and the first time—" he went to the mirror, leaning against the sink, Tears forming in his eyes. "How do you do it?"

Drake leaned against another sink facing away. "Just because I'm a killer doesn't mean it's not hard. It helps to keep perspective though. I'm a soldier, a knight, killing comes with the title, if it means I help people that wouldn't be able to help themselves."

"But that's not what I did. I killed because I lost control—"

"No," Drake jammed his finger into his chest, "you lost control because they beat you, tortured you, and who knows what they were planning afterwards. It was self defense."

Beast Boy slammed his hands against the sink. "Then why do I feel so guilty!?"

"Because you're a good man! A good man with a good heart!" Drake sighed again taking a few moments to compose himself. "My first assignment I was hunting a Rougarou that was attacking a small village. It was easy, but when I went in for the kill," he took a deep breath, "I wet my pants."

Beast Boy looked at Drake with wide, stunned eyes. "You… what?"

"You heard me," Drake rolled his eyes, "I'm trying to ease the tension. I wasn't always like this. I get scared, but it's my duty to protect, and most the time I have to killer to protect." He looked the green teen in the eyes. "You will never have to kill again."

Beast Boy looked away and down into the sink until Drake asked. "Do you trust me?" Beast Boy looked confused, but said yes. "Then I need you to sit tight for a while, don't turn yourself in, or do anything stupid, just… chill."

"Why? What are you gonna do?"

Drake waved off his concern. "Nothing bad don't worry. Right now I have to help that kid, and it's gonna take a while. Can you do that for me?"

Beast Boy let out a long breath. "Y-Yeah. I guess so."

Relieved he patted him on his back. "I'll help you through this, just sit tight. Go get some tofu, or veggie whatever the hell you eat." An idea suddenly can to him. "Better yet, give Raven a call. That'll cheer you up." He patted him again and led him out of them bathroom.

"There you are!" Terra was busy trying to hold back Officer Monti from breaking the door down, but settled for jamming his finger in Drake's chest. "Your supposed to stay—AGH!" Once again Drake had grabbed his wrist and twisted him out of his way.

"Terra make sure Gar doesn't do anything stupid." Drake noticed an odd smirk on his face. "What?"

"Your calling me Gar and I'm letting you."

Drake rolled his eyes for the hundredth time. "Next we'll get matching tattoos, braid each other's hair and talk about our favorite boy bands."

"Really?!"

"No!" With a growl and a huff he headed for the elevator.

"Hey! Get back here." Drake leaned his head back and lot out a groan as the officer tasked over him cut him off at the elevator. "You have to go back to Deblase's office." He took a classic boxers stance. "Now I've taken boxing and basic self defense so you won't get past me so eas—". It took Drake a matter of seconds to drop him to the ground.

Stepping into the open elevator Drake grabbed Monti by his foot and dragged him inside. "Monti right?"

He struggled to his feet. "Yeah. OFFICER Monti."

"Right. I need to look at that girls body downstairs, I need you to keep a lookout."

He looked aghast. "Wh-What!? No I'm not letting you look at her body for kicks!"

Drake sighed. "It's not for kicks you idiot, I think there's something on her body that could possibly exonerate Ethan."

At that, Monti began to settle down and become more interested. "R-Really? Like what?"

Drake shrugged a shoulder. "Not sure. But I'll know it when I see it. It caught my attention when your captain showed me a photo of her body."

Monti was sure that Ethan was innocent, and if this guy could help then all the better. Still. "Wait I can't let you do this, I can't just—"

The bell to the elevator dinged and Drake stepped out. "Your gonna learn quickly that not everything is in black and white." He moved along the hallway with Monti on his heels still trying to convince him to stop what he was doing.

Once they had come to the morgue doors, Drake stepped inside, not seeing anyone stationed there and looked around. All the while he ignored Monti.

"Damn it I'm so fired for this."

"Just tell them I knocked you out of something." Finding the wall of coolers he scanned the names. "What was her name again?"

"Emily Rasmussen." Monti caught his mistake to late. "Shit!"

Drake ran his hands along the doors until he had found her name. Pulling out the metal tray he told Monti. "Make sure no one comes in."

"No," Monti stepped to one side of the tray, "I can't let you contaminate—"

"Listen Dudley Do Right!" He suddenly snapped, "There's a kid upstairs who might go down for a murder he didn't do, it there's evidence that I can stop that on this body I'm going to find it. You wanna stop me? Shoot me!"

They stood there, Monti in stunned silence, but didn't move or speak. Taking his stunned silence as permission to proceed, Drake removed the sheet covering the young Emily. Looking down at the pale corpse, he took a moment of quiet introspection.

"First time?" Monti suddenly asked.

Drake couldn't help but chuckle. "Nope. It's never easy when it's the young ones though." Moving quickly he checked the palms of her hands. "Can you get me a knife or something?"

Monti looked around and found a small scalpel sitting on a nearby tray. "What did you find?"

Taking the scalpel from him, Drake carefully began to cut and peel away at some of the skin on her right hand. Peeling back a small layer of skin, Drake could see a black splotch on her palm. It lost some of its shape, but he could still make out an upside down Star with what looked like a wolfs head in the center. Something he had seen before.

"Son of a bitch." He groaned.

"What? What is it?" Monti followed his line of sight to the spot. "What the hell is that?"

"This is the mark of the damned. Or the spot as sailors would say back in the day." Drake responded. "Meaning our girl here was killed by a hellhound that took her soul to hell."

Drake covered her with a sheet and slid her back inside the cabinet, but when he turned to leave he noticed Monti was as pale as the sheet used to cover the girl.

"I'm sorry I'm a little slow here. Did you say h-h-hellhound? And dragged to hell?"

Matter-of-factly Drake nodded his head. "Yup." Hyperventilating Monti reached into his shirt and removed a gold crucifix from around his neck and began praying. Drake slapped his hand. "Stop that. The hound isn't here." Monti tried to calm himself while Drake looked back at the cabinets. With the wheels in his head turning he spoke lowly and to himself. "This doesn't make any sense."

"None of this makes sense. Now your saying a demon dog killed her."

"Hellhound and that's not what I'm talking about." Drake went to the metal doors as if speaking to them. "The mark indicates she made a deal with a demon, but those are ten year contracts which woulda put her at about age nine or so."

"Yeah, so?"

Drake looked back and Monti. "So kids can't make deals with demons."

Monti twisted his brows together. "So she made a deal with a demon without making a deal with a demon? I'm sorry I can't believe I'm saying demon right now." Panic settled over him again. "Gam gam was right. I shoulda paid more attention in Sunday school."

Drake gave him a smack on the head. "Knock it off. At least now we know it wasn't Ethan who did this."

"True. But this still doesn't exonerate him. How about we get outta here, never come back, and see what else we can find out?"

Reluctantly Drake agreed and headed for the door. Monti stayed behind, crossing himself and saying a prayer while rubbing his cross.

"Knock it off!"

— _ **:0:—**_

Newly dressed and cleaned up, Ethan, cuffed to a ring bolted to the table, began to nervously wring his hands together. What did he have to be nervous about? He didn't do anything wrong. He didn't kill Emily.

"Emily…" his breath caught in his throat as a familiar clawing begin to slice at his insides a mixture of rage and sadness.

"No!" He growled to himself. "I need to stay calm. Breathe, just breathe."

There was a knock at the door, followed by a Hispanic woman in a business suit letting herself into the interrogation room.

"Hello Ethan," she gave a small, but warm smile that put him slightly at ease, "my name is Captain Charlene Deblase." She took a seat in the metal chair across from him, but Ethan was more focused on the folder in her hands. "Can I get you anything? Coffee? Water—"

"You think I killed Emily?" He said suddenly, the clawing and fire returned in his gut returned, but he fought the feelings down as best he could. "Don't you?"

He saw her eyes bore into him, not with malice or contempt, but really just to figure him out. There was tenderness to her eyes and posture that reminded him of a mother and her son. After a moment she responded. "It doesn't matter what I think, all that matters is the truth."

His eyes fell to the folder in front of him knowing full well what the contents were. "I don't… know what the truth is. Or don't remember. All I know is that I wouldn't hurt Emily. Ever."

She leaned forward clasping her hands together. She spoke in a soft and caring tone, that same motherly tone. "When we found her she was dressed in rather revealing lingerie. Were you two involved with one another?"

Ethan gave a slow nod. "Yes. Her father didn't know we were going to tell him, but..." he bit his lower lip as it began quivering. "It was my birthday and she wanted it to be special…"

She leaned forward trying to find his eyes. "Ethan. Tell me what happened."

 **Hahahahaha I felt like leaving this on a cliff hanger. Evil me. So we have some answers, to bad they still don't make any sense, unless anyone has any theories as to what's going on. I'd love to hear them.**

 **Till next time.**


	9. A Hunch

**Chapter 9: A Hunch**

" _Ethan… Ethan… ETHAN!"_

 _He took a sharp gasp and launched backwards. He had been on top of Emily and must have lost track of what he was doing, now he was terrified of what he might have done to her. She pulled herself up into a seated position, rubbing at her neck, making him more horrified._

" _Oh god! Are you okay?! What did I do?!"_

 _He approached, but she held out her hand. "No, no, I'm okay, it's okay." She pulled her hand away showing blood trickling down her neck. "Whoa, heh, excited huh?" She looked up from her hand to his eyes and gasped in surprise. "Ethan? Wh-What's happening to you?"_

 _Confused he brought his hands to his face, at first not feeling anything different or unusual, until he felt his teeth. Sharp points poked at the fleshy tips of his fingers._

" _A-and your eyes?"_

 _He looked at the mirror sliding doors of his closet. Sure enough his eyes were black reptilian slits surrounded by icy blue irises._

" _Ethan?" She asked timidly. "What's happening to you?"_

 _He didn't respond but kept shaking his head in confusion. "I—I—I need to go." He hurried off the bed, but before he could leave she had grabbed him by his hand._

" _Ethan wait! What's going on."_

 _He wrenched his hand away, staring in horror at the burn and bite marks he had left on her neck. "No," he breathed, "just… just stay away from me!" He ran from his room, once again his senses being overwhelmed with smells and sounds. In a way he was thankful. Now he couldn't hear Emily calling after him._

 _He ran until he had come to the bathroom at the end of the hall, went inside, slammed and locked the door behind him. With sounds pounding against his skull and the smells making his head hurt he did the only thing he could think to do. He turned on the shower before sitting against the wall._

 _Focusing on the running water he put his face into his hands._

 _What had he done? He had hurt her. Burned her. Cut her. "Oh god. What did I do?" He didn't know much about sex, but that wasn't normal. Right?_

 _Sounds continued to swarm his mind like a beehive. Laughing, snarling, screaming, singing, shouting, wait—snarling? He turned up the shower until steam began to fill the room._ Just focus on the water. _He told himself._ Breathe. _Following his own advice he took a deep breaths listening intently to the running water._

What am I going to do? What if I hurt her again? This is all too much. Something is happening to me and I can't drag her into this. _He let his head thump against the wall, an awful realization occurring to him._ I can't do this, not with running the risk of her getting hurt.

 _Suddenly his nose was filled with a new scent. The scent of blood. He nearly gagged when he took a deeper breath, sure enough, it was blood. He shut the water off and exited the bathroom._

Was someone hurt? _He breathed in again following the stench of blood until he found himself outside of his own room, and what was awaiting him._

— **:** _ **0:—**_

Looking at the table with tears streaming down his eyes he muttered, "And I don't remember what happened after that."

— _ **:0:—**_

The questioning had gone on for another two hours after that, but Ethan's answers remained the same no matter what the questions were. He sincerely didn't remember anything that happened from the time he saw Emily's body, to when he ended up in that parking garage. Finally Captain Deblase had decided to let him sit in the interrogation room alone, a tactic that she had hoped would help with his memory, but her gut told her otherwise. She had the suspicion that Ethan genuinely didn't remember, and that he was innocent of this crime. However with Thornton hounding her at every corner, she had to come up with another suspect, and soon.

Ethan, still cuffed to the table, continued to rack his brain for some kind of answer, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't sift through the chaos. There was so much noise, so many images and none of it made sense. Defeated he placed his head into his hands.

"What is wrong with me?"

The click and turn of the doorknob pulled his attention to the door and the person now entering the room. "Honestly? Nothing." Ethan remembered this guy. Dark brown hair and black coat with some sort of crystal necklace.

Ethan tilted his head. "Isn't there a cop outside? How did you get past him?"

He took a seat across from him. "I asked nicely."

Ethan didn't want explore what he meant by that. "Oh, well I, uh, guess I should thank you for saving me from, uh, whatever his name was."

"Malchior. A grade A D-hole."

Ethan nodded. "Yeah. That was his name. Anyways, thanks."

He waved him off. "Don't worry about it. My name is Drake, I don't think we were properly introduced."

"Nice to meet you." Ethan grinned. "Are you a Dragon...person too?"

Drake nodded. "Dragon Knight."

Ethan chuckled, for the first time in a while. "Your a Dragon and your name is Drake? Your parents had a weird sense of humor."

Amazingly Drake smiled to. "Yeah I guess they did."

They sat awkwardly for a moment or two until Ethan asked, "So was Malchior right? Am I also some kind of Dragon Knight?"

Drake gave a curt nod. "He was right about that. Somewhere in your ancestry is a line of Dragon warriors. My brothers and sisters."

Ethan looked down at the table. "So what does that mean for me? I have some kind of monster living in me?"

Drakes jaw twitched, not liking the word. "No. A Dragon." He grabbed the crystal necklace and showed it to Ethan. "You'll need something like this to help control the dragon spirit inside of you. But you'll still need to do some work on your part."

"What If I don't want to?" Ethan asked suddenly. "What if I don't want to be a Dragon Knight."

Drake snorted a laugh. "Trust me, it doesn't work like that. If you don't want to take the full mantle of warrior, that's fine by me, but without proper training the slightest amount of stress will make you hulk out. So whether you like it or not, I'm your best bet of making sure that doesn't happen."

Ethan was beginning to feel a sense of anger broil inside of him, and yet logically he knew that Drake was right. "What makes you any different then Malchior?"

As if Drake had anticipated this question, his response was instant. "Because I'll tell you like it is. Malchior will tell you whatever you need to hear so that you stay on his side. He's good at manipulating others like that."

Ethan smirked. "I knew it. I've been taken advantage of one to many times in my life. Over the years I taught myself to spot a manipulative asshole a mile away."

Drake quirked a brow. "What about me?"

Ethan was puzzled but his request at first, but slowly the pieces clicked. He examined the young man in front of him for a minute before coming to a sort of a conclusion. "You seem like a manipulator, just… Tired."

Once again, he snorted a laugh. "Something like that I guess." They both shared short laughs before falling into silence.

"So what happens now?" Ethan asked. "I mean They think I killed Emily, but I didn't."

"I know you didn't kill her, but these people are keen on placing blame, and for you it's easier cuz you're considered different. Makes it easier for them to transfer blame… onto…" Drake trailed off, his brows furrowing as his eyes focused onto a spot on the floor.

"What? What is it?"

Drake didn't respond. He stood up from the table, threw open the door and disappeared into the hallway, but Ethan could hear him calling out.

"I need a computer! Now!"

Ethan was more confused than ever, but had a weird feeling that Drake was onto something that could possibly save him.

— _ **:0:—**_

A hunch. That was the only reason he, Beast Boy, Terra and Monti were storming the Rasmussen house, a gut feeling. Even after all of the research that he had done, there was still no concrete reason for them to be here, something Monti was adamant about. With him around Drake had to work differently, now it was all about laws and rules he had to worry about. Regardless, he came here with a goal in mind and he wasn't leaving until he had accomplished it.

He burst through the doors, ignoring security, house workers, and even the three that had come with him.

"You can't just barge in!" Terra yelled. "He just lost his kid!"

"We don't have a warrant or a reason to be here!" Monti added.

Drake spun around, snorting smoke as he attempted to keep his cool. _Geez these guys are cramping my style._ "With all due respect, you have no idea what we're walking into, but I need you to trust me if we're gonna prove Ethan's innocence."

Beast Boy stood beside to him. "I'm with him. Don't worry guys He's got this."

They shared a silent understanding with nods of agreement to one another.

Terra and Monti stood silent for a moment, but finally decided to leave this to Drake. "Alright." Monti sighed. "Let's do this."

Once they had learned of where Rasmussen would be from a maid, the four hurriedly made their way to the closed double doors of the study. Monti ran past Drake to get to the door before him and knocked.

"Mayer Rasmussen, it's Officer—" Drake grabbed the doorknob and shoved his shoulder into the door, breaking the locks and opening it with ease.

Monti was chastising Drake for his brash behavior, but Drake was too busy surveying the study. Rasmussen was on the couch by the fireplace, head hanging low with grief, his bearded face red and puffy from the constant tears. With him was the black haired, handsome Alister Walker, and William Thornton.

Thornton snorted with rage. "What are you doing here?" He practically roared.

Monti was sputtering excuses, but Drake, ignoring him, calmly stated. "We thought you'd like to know we found Emily's killer."

His eyes went straight to Rasmussen who lifted his head, hope gleaming in his eyes. "Y-You did?"

"Well that's great." Alister smiled, "who is it?"

Drake never once looked away from Rasmussen. "I'm looking at him."

Stunned silence spread like smoke through the study, until an enraged Thornton advanced on Drake until he was an inch from his nose. "I don't know who the fuck you think you are, but You've got some nerve coming in here throwing around wild accusations. Rasmussen was with us the entire time his daughter was murdered."

"Besides," Alister spoke, "she was killed by a wild animal."

Drake took some of the papers in his hand and tossed them onto the couch beside Rasmussen, all the while he continued his staring contest with Thornton,"Ten years ago you were the assistant to the mayor. Glorified secretary and low man on the totem pole, Right Rasmussen?"

Confused Rasmussen started looking through the papers that were filled with newspaper clippings, photos, and statements from his coworkers at the time. "People were confused when, not only a slot for the mayor had opened up do to the sudden death of your ,healthy, predecessor, but also the fact that countless others were passed over for the position. Even after the election you won by a landslide, Statements said, 'it was if by magic'."

Thornton snorted a laugh. "So what? Your accusing him of witchcraft."

Drake smirked. "Something like that." He took more papers and shoved them against Thornton's chest. "Twelve years ago **you** were riding a desk, and then overnight, made sergeant, and a year later captain all the way up until Commissioner."

Thornton grabbed the papers and tossed them aside like trash, but Drake wasn't done. "What about you Mister Walker?" He lifted more papers to show. "Wanna know what happened thirteen years ago?"

Rasmussen slammed the papers down onto the ground and got to his feet. "What does this have to do with anything!? Your supposed to be looking for my daughter's killer?!"

"You already got her killer," Thornton snarled, "the freak, Ethan Conners."

"Ethan didn't kill her," he was matter-of-fact and calm as he spoke, "a Hellhound did."

Once again, silence. All except for light whimpering coming from Monti. "A hellhound?" Thornton snorted with laughter. "You can't be serious?"

Ignoring him Drake continued. "Hounds only kill when a deal is made. You sell your soul to a demon and the hound finds you and rips it out of you."

Out of the corner of his eye, Drake noticed Rasmussen turn a shade of white and begin to get weak in the knees, but Thornton was still scoffing.

From behind them, Beast Boy finally spoke out. "Drake, I don't know much about all this, but I do know that those are ten year contracts and you said earlier that Emily couldn't have done it, cuz she was just a kid."

Thornton smirked. "There ya go. Beaten by your own insanity."

Drake was silent a moment before his lip quirked. "You're right Gar, Emily couldn't have made a deal. But It's possible to transfer a curse to someone else. It's hidden in some of the blackest magic, but possible."

Drake moved passed Thornton and slowly made his way to the sickly looking Rasmussen. "The Deal Curse, as it's sometimes called, is still a curse, the penalty of which is death." Drake was so close now he could see the beads of sweat on his forehead and feel the air leaving his lungs with each heavy breath. "A penalty you gave to your daughter."

Rasmussen shook his head. "N-N-No I didn't! I gave it to—"

"Seth shut up!" Alister tried shouting, but it was too late.

"—Zach Karry, an asshole that bullied me in high school and is in prison for murder!"

Drake's eyes filled with pity and sorrow. Rasmussen genuinely believed that's what he had done. "I'm sorry, but no. That's not how these curse transfers work. In every instance, every time, it's given to the one you love most." He pointed to Thornton, "his mother," Alister, "his husband," pointed at Rasmussen, "your daughter."

The truth hit him like a hammer to the gut, almost knocking him over, but was quickly replaced with anger. Anger aimed at his best friends. "You son of a bitch." Thornton attempted to talk to him, but Rasmussen wasn't having any of it. "YOU SON OF A BITCH!" He launched himself at Thornton, hands tightly around his throat and screaming. "YOU PROMISED! MY BABY GIRL IS DEAD!"

Amidst the shouting, Thornton tried reasoning. "We were gonna fix the city! We needed you!"

"MY EMILY IS DEAD! MY BABY IS DEAD!"

Monti, Terra And Beast Boy went to the fighting men as Drake approached Alister. "Your going to drop the charges against Ethan. The only thing he's guilty of is being in the wrong place at the wrong time and you know it."

He swallowed. "I-I can't. It's not that easy."

Drake snorted smoke. "Your a lawyer, I'm sure you can think of something." He lifted the papers still in his hands, papers with Alister's information. "Or I'll give someone a reason to reopen the case of you dead husband. How you managed to make, basically a bear attack, look like a drowning is beyond me." He tossed them to Alister before heading towards the doors to the study.

"That's it?" Alister called, "your done?"

"I've wasted enough time with you bastards. I've got a kid to get out of prison."

"WAIT!" They were finally able to pry Rasmussen off of Thornton's throat and was now reaching out to Drake, "the demon we made the deal with. It's still here."

That was enough to give Drake pause.

"Seth shut the Hell up!" Beast Boy turned into a gorilla and grabbed Thornton around the waist to hold him back. "You'll ruin everything!"

"FUCK YOU WILL!" Rasmussen turned back to Drake now with pleading in his eyes. "We had another stipulation to our contracts. We help find the demon find new marks, that's why We threw so many parties."

Drake approached him with urgency in his tone. "Tell me where he is and I'll take care of it."

Rasmussen shook his head. "No, you can't kill these things—"

"—but I can. Tell me where to find it, I'll have him rip of the remaining contracts and I'll kill it."

Rasmussen still didn't seem convinced, but with nothing much else to lose he told Drake what he needed to know.

— _ **:0:—**_

Charlene Deblase was going through paperwork when she realized that it had gone rather quiet outside her office. It seemed like it was chaotic and hour ago, but maybe it had finally settled down. Stretching her aching back, she left her office to check on her precinct.

A very empty precinct building.

It was like she had been slapped with confusion. There was no reason for this building to be this empty. Even with what time of the day it was, late into the evening, there was at least ten or twelve officers here. Where on earth was everyone.

She called out the officers names, the ones on staff and a few that weren't, but no answer came.

"What on earth?" She muttered to herself. "Where is everyone."

The doors to the elevator on the other side of the meeting opened, revealing on the other side not one of her officers, but John Deleheart.

Now she was even more confused. "John? What are…" her eyes fell to the shotgun in his hand. A shotgun aimed at her.

— _ **:0:—**_

"This is the church, this is the steeple, open the doors, and see all the people." There wasn't much to do with hands cuffed together, and after going through piano drills for the hundredth time, he needed to do something else.

He exhaled, wondering where the cops were and if they had simply forgotten about him. Strangely, he found himself wishing he could hear what was going on out there.

"Well if I'm one of these Dragon people, why not." He still couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that he was some kind of special warrior or whatever, but he felt even more like a freak. Not knowing how to make it work, he simply focused on outside the interrogation room.

One sound he didn't need super hearing for, was the sound of a shotgun.

He leapt out of his skin at the sound, followed by the smell of blood. Someone was hurt.

"Hello?! Can anyone hear me?!" He ran to the door, knocking furiously. "Is everything okay?!" He pounded again before noticing that he was no longer cuffed to the table.

Looking at his wrists there were two cuffs on each wrist, apparently having been broken by him when he leapt from the table.

"Okay. That's actually… kinda cool." He looked at the locked door, took a step back, and on a wing and a prayer kicked at the door with all his might.

No one would have been more surprised then himself when he saw the door, metal and locked, fly open. With his mouth moving like a fish on dry land he simply gawked at the door. "I'm freaking Superman…"

With the door now open, the scent of blood was much stronger along with the soft sounds of muttering and whimpering. He moved through the hall, creeping close to the walls to stay hidden. As he came to the opening of the hallway coming into the precinct, he could see Captain Deblase on the ground, bleeding and crawling away from someone.

Inching forward he gasped when he saw that John Deleheart was looming over her with a shotgun aimed directly at her.

"I'm sorry Charlene, but your death won't for nothing. We'll continue to make this city great. I promise." He cocked the gun and pointed the barrel at her head.

As if by instinct, Ethan launched himself at Deleheart, pushing him hard enough to send him flying into the wall. Looking down at Deblase she had indeed been shot, but only in the side as if she was trying to get out of the way. Still it was bad enough to where she would need medical attention.

Hearing Deleheart groaning and beginning to get back to his feet, Ethan had to think fast. He bent over and grabbed her under her armpits and proceeded to drag her behind a desk. She cried out in pain causing him to apologize profusely for not being more careful.

Once they were safe for the time being, he looked over her injury. "What can I do?"

She held her shaking hand to her side. "We need to call for backup."

Ethan fumbled on top of the desk for the phone only for another shot to go off; missing him by inches.

"Come out freak! I'll try to make it quick!"

Deblase began shuddering as her body began to get cold from blood loss. "Wh-What now?"

Ethan placed his hands against her wounds to try and stop the bleeding. "I have no idea. I'm just making this up as I go along."

Deleheart cocked the shotgun to get their attention. He had found their hiding place and was intent on finishing the job. At least had it not been for the slab of earth that had placed itself between them and the shots fired.

"What the—" Deleheart spun to the right as a green velociraptor chomped down on the shotgun before spinning around and hitting him in the gut with its thick tail.

"Freeze!" Ethan recognized the commanding, yet shaky tone of Officer Monti as he aimed his side arm at Deleheart. "Don't move."

It was difficult for Ethan to piece together what was happening, but essentially the Teen Titan Terra had saved them from being shot with a rock wall, and Monti was holding Deleheart down with his weapon. One person he didn't recognize was a green kid shifting from one animal to another.

"That's kinda cool." He muttered aloud. His heart skipped a beat when he was joined by Drake who was furiously looking over Deblase and her wounds. "We need to get her to a hospital. She's been shot."

"First things first." Drake reached for his necklace that began to glow a light blue and pulled a few wisps of ethereal energy into his fingertips. "One of the perks of being a dragon knight." He placed the magical energy against her open wound and waited as the magic began to seal it shut.

Ethan watched in wonder. "Your healing her? How?"

Drake chuckled. "Like I said. The perks of being a dragon knight." Once Drake had finished Deblase began to get color back into her complexion as he lost it in his.

"Are you okay?"

Drake got to his feet, wobbly feet. "I'll be fine. I've still got a job to do." Ignoring the pounding in his head, Drake drew the broken dagger from its sheath and stalked towards Deleheart. Shoving Monti out of the way, he grabbed Deleheart by the throat with one hand, lifted him to his feet and put the blade against his throat.

"Here's how this is gonna work, your gonna rip up every contract you've ever made and afterwards, I might make this quick." Deleheart did and said nothing but struggle against Drake's iron grip. He was about to threaten him again when something caught his attention. "Oh no."

"What?" Monti asked, "what's wrong?"

Before responding Drake moved the blade over Deleheart's skin. "This guy's not a demon. This made is made with angel blood, his skin should be burning."

"But Rasmussen said he was the demon?"

Drake moved his head in Terra's direction. "Technically he said the demon was here, he didn't say Deleheart was the one."

"Of course he's not." As voice sounded from the shadows. "His buddies are made to think he's the demon, but Johnny Boy is just the fall guy."

Everyone looked to the man now entering the precinct, but only one of them knew who he was.

Ethan.

"W-Winston?"

 **So once I'm done with this story, in two chapters, I'm gonna take a break from the fandom for a while. I'm sure I'll be back, but I just need to step away. Of course if someone out there is enjoying these and would like me to continue please say so, otherwise we'll have to just wait and see.**


	10. Soul

**Chapter 10: Soul**

Winston threw his arms out as if accepting a round of applause. "That's my name. Don't wear it out."

His presence was met with mostly confusion, from all except Ethan who felt as if he had been punched in the gut. _What was he doing here? Why was Jon trying to kill him and Charlene? Most importantly, why were they calling him a demon?_

Through the blood pounding in his ears from the shock, Ethan managed to hear Drake stand beside him. "You know this guy?"

"Shoot yeah he does!" Winston responded. "We're BFF's." Winston approached Ethan. "Though all of this finally makes sense. You know of all the people i've met, all the souls just ripe for the picking, yours is the only one I wouldn't be able to sink my teeth into."

Ethan twisted his face in confusion. "You're a Dragon Knight." Drake clarified. "He can't claim your soul for hell."

"Hence why I never tried selling him a timeshare," Winston shrugged, "Still I was always curious as to why I couldn't have you, so I made sure to be close to you. Figured you'd show me what you _really_ were eventually."

"I'm sorry," Monti suddenly shouted, "but are we just gonna ignore the fact that there is a friggen demon here?!" Monti had taken the gun off of Jon Deleheart and now had it focused on Winston.

Winston couldn't help but laugh. "Go ahead and shoot officer Boy Scout. I could use a good tickle."

Drake stood in front of Monti. "So how does this scam of yours work? You make deals and then claim the souls of their loved ones once their bills come due?"

Winston, as if being accused of stealing a candy bar, shook his head and hands. "Hey, hey, hey, in my defense it was their idea to do the whole 'give their curse away' thing. My plan was simple. Make a deal and with each mark they brought to me that went through I'd add another six months to their contracts. Then THEY came up with the Curse Transference."

"And you just happened to exclude the fact that it would latch on to their loved ones?"

Winston shrugged again. "They were cool with it, so I was too. Besides," His eyes, once black, began to glow a pale blue they were almost white, "innocent souls taste that much sweeter."

Drake's eyes went large with horror. "You're keeping them!?"

Winston smirked as the light died in his eyes. "Duh. I'm not letting these little dearies go to waste." His grin faded to a more serious expression. "Do you have any idea the power that souls have? Especially those that are untarnished?" He smiled with a shudder running down his back. "It's exhilarating."

From the back Beast Boy spoke. "And what does you boss think about your little scam?"

Winston's face dropped into a low scowl. "I've been working the system for decades, long before Landon occupied the nice office. So no, no one is the wiser. Not until I have enough souls to mount an attack for the throne."

The next few moments had happened so fast no one was quite sure what had happened.

The entire time Winston and the others had been talking, Ethan had been putting the pieces together in his head until he had come to a conclusion. Winston was somehow responsible for Emily's death.

Screaming, Ethan threw himself at Winston, jumping on top of him and pinning him to the ground. He grabbed him by the collar of his coat and began pounding him into the ground.

"Did you do it!? Did you kill Emily!?"

Ethan was using as much of his newfound strength as he could, but even then, Winston was only laughing at his attempts. "Well technically it wasn't me." He grabbed Ethan by his wrists to stop him, before letting out a sharp whistle.

The precinct fell silent, horrifyingly silent, as if all of the oxygen had been sucked out of the room, until a haunting howl ripped through the silence.

Monti began aiming his weapon in all different directions as if the howl was coming from all around them. "What the hell was that?"

Drake tightened his grip around the blade. "I doubt you actually wanna know."

 **BOOM!**

The walls of the precinct burst open as something unseen crashed inside, sending debris, mortar, Stone and glass in every direction. Monti and Terra crumbled beneath the brunt of the crash while Beast Boy ran to their aid. Drake pulled Charlene out of harms way and tucking her into her office Leaving Ethan and Winston. Using the chaos to his advantage, Winston kicked Ethan off of himself and ran out of the room and down the hall with Ethan right behind him.

— _ **:0:—**_

"Ethan wait!" Drake called but froze when he heard a low growling coming from somewhere in the room. Drake knew that the hellhound was now in the building, but he had no idea where it was. "Gar where is it?!"

Pulling Monti and Terra from the rubble, Beast Boy was actually glad for his demon blood allowing him to see the hound. "On your right!" Drake swung the blade to his right, only to hit air and was quickly pounced on from the left. "Oops. I meant my right."

Drake kicked the bear sized hound off of him and got back into a fighter's stance. He could hear the hound snarling and moving back and forth, but he still couldn't see it.

"Drake! 2 o'clock!" He swung to his left. Nothing. "I mean 4 o'clock! Um, noonish?" Each time Drake would miss, the hound took advantage by either pouncing, clawing or biting at the dragon knight. "3 o'clock!"

"Goddamnit Gar!"

"Right behind you!"

With one swift strike he threw his arm backwards, sinking the blade into the thick neck of the hound. It whimpered and howled before crumbling with an invisible thud onto the ground.

Bloody and dazed, Drake stepped over the invisible carcass glaring at Beast Boy who nervously offered a thumbs up. "For the record." Drake pointed behind himself at the blood pooling on the ground, "that's six o'clock."

— _ **:0:—**_

Winston disappeared behind the corner with Ethan right on top of him. However as he rounded the corner he was met with an outstretched limb to the chest. The wind knocked out of him, he fell to the floor with an "oof". Winston stood over him as he tried to catch his breath.

"So Dragon Knight huh?" He knelt down. "I honestly didn't see that coming. Only a handful of creatures crossbred with humans are exempt from the pit, but Dragon Knight? HA! Twist ending!"

Ethan slowed his coughing. ""Ending'?"

Winston looked down at him somewhat somberly. "Well yeah I still have to kill you. Last thing I need is more attention brought to my little operation. Get rid of you and the 'search' for Emily's killer ends." He put a finger to his chin. "Although now that Daniels knows about all this I may have to move locations anyways. Ah well. I'll figure it out at our next planning sesh."

Ethan got to his hands and knees. Maybe he couldn't fight Winston, but maybe he could appeal to him. "Winston, you don't want to do this. I know your better than this."

Winston grabbed him by his throat and squeezed. "No, you see, I DO want to do this. I want the throne of hell and I need to collect souls to do it. So I'll do what I have to, to take it."

Ethan grabbed at the fingers that were squeezing the life out of him. "Drake . . . Will…."

"Will What? Stop me?" He got to his feet, lifting Ethan effortlessly. "I wouldn't bet on that, not after all of the power I've gained." He slammed Ethan against the wall and lifted him higher into the air. "You should think of this as me doing you a favor. You think you'd be able to make it as a Dragon Knight? You think you're strong enough for that kind of power? Please. You weren't strong enough to stop your mother from dying, couldn't stop you father from drinking himself to death," he leaned closer to whisper in Ethan's ear, "and couldn't stop your piano teacher from helping himself to a little Ethan cake. No Ethan. Your not strong enough."

Winston leaned back watched as Ethan's eyes rolled into the back of his head, before letting out a slow exhale of his own. "The worst part about all this, is that I really did like you. Genuinely, and I am so … so sorry about this."

Winston's neck suddenly began to burn cold when he felt cold steel against his neck.

"Drop him." Drake growled. With a roll of his eyes Winston dropped the now unconscious Ethan on the floor before turning around to put himself face to face with Drake, but the blade was still tightly pressed against his neck. "How many deals do you have cooking in this city?"

Winston wrinkled his nose, not wanting to answer, "twenty two."

"Okay. Well here's the deal. You call them off, or I'm going to carve you like a thanksgiving turkey."

Before Winston had a chance to respond, someone interrupted their confrontation. Someone with a smooth British accent. "Come now. Don't let him get off that easily."

— _ **:0:—**_

"You two okay?" Beast Boy was finally able to drag Monti and Terra from the rubble and besides some cuts and bruises, they both appeared fine.

"I'm good." He helped Terra to her feet.

"I did NOT sign up for this. Demons and ghost dogs? Can this get any worse?"

Beast Boy's ear began twitching accompanied with his hair standing on end. Growling he glanced in the direction of the hallway where Drake had disappeared a few seconds ago.

"You had to ask." Beast Boy ran for the hallway, with the others right behind him asking what was the sudden hurry. Rounding the corner he wasn't surprised to see Drake holding Winston at knife point and Ethan out cold on the ground. Neither was he at all shocked to see the lord of Hell, arms folded and looking rather annoyed.

Landon's eyes flitted to Beast Boy before a wolfish grin spread across his lips. "Hello Beastie boo," his eyes moved to Terra and Monti, "and not Raven or Robin?"

Drake peered over his shoulder. "Guys check on Ethan."

Beast Boy and Terra ran to Ethan however Landon interjected. "This is bizarre for me, usually the whole gang's here. What am I to do without Robins self righteous sense of Justice, Starfires adorable naivety, Ravens sharp wit and Cyborgs 'Boo-yahs'?"

Beast Boy bared his fangs. "Still recovering after YOU almost had him killed."

Landon rolled his eyes dismissively. "You saved him didn't you? Get over it." His eyes shifted to Terra. "And don't even think of stepping out on dear Raven. No offense dear I'm sure you have a, um," he looked her up and down, "wonderful personality." He straightened his suit coat, before narrowing his eyes at Winston.

Drake could feel the demon gulping from beneath the blade at his neck. "S-sir I-I-I can explain—"

"I have a few laws I expect my lads to obey," Landon started counting on his fingers, "clear your browser history, always wipe front to back, and when you make a deal, keep. IT."

Winston began squirming from under Drake's headlock. "S-Sir—"

"—this isn't Disney, you twit, this is HELL! And we have a little something called 'integrity' in our business dealings. Sure I'd like to rule the world too, but I have a strong sense of morals at least."

"Mister Landon!" Winston shouted as if he had an actual say in the matter. "If you'd only give me a chance—"

"Save your energy," Landon spat, "I know all about your little operation."

Winston tilted his head, so Drake filled in the blanks by showing him his cellphone. "We may not be Facebook friends anymore, but I still got him on speed dial." Tapping a button and replayed a recording of Winston explaining everything. "That's why bad guys shouldn't monologue."

"Couldn't agree more," Landon went to a reflective window and began fixing his suit and hair, "now if you please hand the jackass over to me so I can see to his punishment."

Drakes grip only tightened. "What are you gonna do with him."

"Make an example of him obviously. My minions have played fast and loose with my laws for to long, now it's time to end that."

Drake twisted the knife again. "One condition. Rip up all the contracts he's made, then he's yours."

Landon rolled his before before casually snapping his fingers. "Consider the contracts 'Thanos'd'. Your turn."

Winston began to panic. "No, no, no wait! Let's talk about this!" Drake shoved Winston as hard as he was able, putting him at the feet of the demon king. Looking up from his kneeling position, Winston began begging. "My Lord, please."

Landon wasn't having moved by anything he was saying. "You conspire to take my throne and you expect mercy?"

Winston began sputtering before going quiet with rage. "You think you're a king? You're a—!"

Landon grabbed him by the throat and spoke through his teeth. "I. Am. Hell." He lifted Winston into the air. "I. Am. Forever." Landon's eyes began to glow blood red as a force of choking black energy to begin tightening on Winston's body. He threw his head back and began gagging as if he was choking on water, But instead of spurting water from his lungs it was glowing white and blue energy.

Everyone backed away while angry wisps of energy continued to pour from Winston's body. Monti, Terra and Beast Boy sock behind the corner for cover, Monti screaming, "What the hell is going on?!"

Beast Boy pointed to the players. "The guy in the suit is Landon, lord of hell, Winston is his minion who is not following the rules, Landon hates that, so he's pulling out the souls that Winston stole."

Pale and shaking slightly, Monti began sputtering. "That's it. I'm going with gam gam to church for the rest of my life."

After a few minutes, ten spheres of blue and white energy began shooting off in different directions, but remained trapped in the precinct. Winston himself went limp in Landon's hand, appearing as if he was nothing more then rags and stuffing. Landon released him, dropping him to the floor before a crimson portal swallowed the demon, returning him to damnation.

— _ **:0:—**_

Ethan woke up coughing and hacking as if Winston's fingers were still crushing his windpipe.

"Hey, Hey, Hey, your okay." Through his watery eyes, he could see Terra attempting to calm him down, but he was still in a state of panic.

"Wh-where's Winston? What happened to him?"

Terra motioned towards the guy in the suit. "Landon sent him back to hell. He's gone."

Ethan new Winston was the bad guy, but that didn't stop his heart from breaking. Winston, his friend for years, had been a demon bent on killing him just so his dark schemes wouldn't be found out. Guess he should be used to people using or lying to him after all.

Terra, all to familiar with what he must be feeling, touched his shoulder. "You okay?"

Ethan got to his feet. "No. WHOA!" He ducked out of the way of a sphere sailing past him. "What the hell?"

"Those, my dear boy, are souls." The one called Landon walked past them further into the precinct, watching as the balls of energy shot in every direction. "Beautiful aren't they? Untarnished human souls?"

Terra helped Ethan into a chair as Monti, Beast Boy and Drake watched the souls travel erratically.

"What's, wrong with them?" Monti asked.

"They've been in the dark for to long," Drake explained. "They're confused, scared and lost." He looked to Landon. "You can send them away right? Help them move on?" Landon didn't respond at first, instead his head tilted to the side as if someone was speaking to him. But he was alone. "Landon?"

He took a sharp inhale. "Yes I can help them move on." He held out his hand and clenched his fist, encasing each soul in black energy.

Ethan noticed that the souls began to tremble and shake as if becoming more afraid. "Somethings wrong! What is he doing?!"

"Landon!" The lord of Hell looked over his shoulder at Drake with hellfire in his eyes. "What are you doing? Those souls are innocent! They don't belong in Hell!"

Once again Landon's head cocked to the side like someone was speaking to him before looking back at Drake. "Maybe not. But I'm not taking the loss on these souls just because of my idiot minion."

Beast Boy snarled. "You can't do that!" Turning into a Jaguar he leapt at Landon only to be shot back by a blast of black energy.

"I can," Landon spoke, "and I will."

With yellow eyes and a shrill battle cry, Terra threw chunks of earth at the demon king, who once again effortlessly blocked her attack before blasting her as well. As if expecting the final Titan to attack, he turned towards Drake. Drake however was just stunned into silence, unable to believe what he was seeing.

"What happened to you?" He breathed. "The Landon I knew wouldn't condemn innocent souls to hell."

Landon forced a smirk. "Then you don't know me at all."

Drake shook his head, inching closer to Landon while his fingers slid over the hilt of the dagger. "You don't see how totally off the rails you are?!"

"I'm a demon!" Landon shouted. "Not just any demon. The king of Hell! That means I do what I want, WHEN. I. Want! And right now, I want these souls."

"No!" Ethan jumped onto his back, "Let them go!"

"ENOUGH!" Black ash shot from his body sending both Drake and Ethan slamming into the walls. "I don't have time for this. I have matters on the Dark Continent that require my attention. So if you don't mind—"

"HEY!"

The thickness in the air began to fade, the heaviness lifting and the darkness thinning.

Landon, noticing the change, looked in all directions looking for the source, before finally settling on a new player. A young girl, no older than sixteen, stood dressed in ragged clothes that looked as if they had been fished from the dumpster. Her hair was a dark curly brown and skin a perfect pale milky color. Though she didn't look like much, she stood with steadfastness and showed no fear towards the demon lord.

Landon chuckled. "Cute. Don't you have a Taylor Swift concert to get to? Enjoy them darling, miss Swift only has a few years left on her contract."

She ignored him. She took a few steps towards him, ignoring the stares she was receiving from those gathered. "Release them." She said authoritatively. "These souls belong in heavens vaults, not damnation."

Landon coughed on his own laughter. "Are you serious? You think you can command…" His head tilted as he examined her more closely. "Well, well." A knowing grin spread across his face. "Your not some tween stamping your foot at me are you?"

She closed her eyes and when she opened them again they began to shine the same blue and white as the souls that surrounded them. "I am Sariah, angel of the lord, and one of his chosen soldiers. You will free these souls and be on your way, or feel heaven's wrath."

As she spoke an ear piercing ringing began to shake the ground. The lights burst, the windows shattered, the Titans and Monti pressing the palms of their hands against their ears.

Landon took a few hesitant steps back. "You think you got the juice to take me!" He shouted over the ringing. "I am the king!"

"Hear me demon!" She shouted, raising her hands to the sky. "I will reign holy fire from on high!"

Landon looked above him before shouting a final, "Bollocks!" And vanished in a puff of smoke.

 **10 down, one to go. We can do it.**

 **I'm sure during my sabbatical I'll post something. Maybe a one shot here or there, probably branch out into different fandoms. We'll have to see.**

 **Stay tuned for the conclusion.**


	11. Moving On

**Chapter 11: Moving on**

Ethan felt excruciating pain radiating from the back of his head from where he slammed into the wall. His ears were still ringing, but he was able to hear Beast Boy next to him.

"What was that?" He stuck his pinkie in his ear as if trying to rub something out. "Anybody get the license plate of that thing that rang like that?"

Ethan looked passed him at Drake who was getting to his feet, using the wall to help him stand. "Yeah. Her." Ethan followed his line of sight to the young blonde standing in the middle of the precinct. Ethan regarded her curiously. She didn't seem dangerous, in fact she seemed pleasant if not odd the way she wistfully stared at the orbs of light.

She smiled warmly as she addressed the souls. "Don't be afraid. The darkness has been lifted." She held out her hand, allowing a small bead of light from her palm to draw the souls to her like moths to fire. One by one they surrounded her on all sides. Her voice got lower, like a whisper. "Go now, and rest in the Fields of your father?" One by one each soul was absorbed into a blinding white light before vanishing from sight all together.

All but one.

A single sphere of energy floated passed Sariah making its way slowly towards Ethan. He stared blankly at the soul, looking passed it at Sariah who looked just as puzzled by the weird action. She reached towards them, but Drake stood beside her, holding out his hand to stop her and allow this to happen.

Ethan looked back at the soul just as it was about to take shape before him, from a ball of light to the form of a person, a girl, a girl he knew.

She smiled a wide grin causing Ethans knees to buckle beneath him. "E-Emily?" It was her. She was here. She was standing in front of him. Alive.

But in his heart, he knew that wasn't true.

His breath shook as his growing emotions tightened around his throat. "I-I'm so—"

She held the tips of her fingers against his lips, nodding her head that told him she already knew, and there was nothing to be sorry for. Closing her eyes she leaned closer to him to place her lips against his, sending a feeling of pure warmth throughout his entire body. Ethan held onto the moment for as long as he could, but other then the warmth in his soul he couldn't feel her. Couldn't feel her skin, her lips against his, or her hair in his hands. Still he wished with everything he was that this was real, that she was here and that she was here to stay, but as soon as he opened his eyes, she was gone.

 _ **-:0:-**_

Drake couldn't stop his own heart from breaking seeing Ethan slump back to the floor and began sobbing hysterically. Looking over at the angel, her head had tilted to the side watching Ethan with confusion.

"I do not understand. Why does he weep?"

He thought that it was an odd question, but Drake still answered. "That girl, that soul, that was his girlfriend."

Sariah still didn't understand. "But doesn't he know that she is in a far better place than this?"

Drake couldn't help but chuckle at the typical response given to those that had lost loved ones. "Probably, but he still has to live the rest of his life without her."

She nodded with some understanding, but it didn't seem to click all the way. "Perhaps if I told him—"

Drake grabbed her arm to hold her back. "Just give him a minute. Grieving is something he needs to do. In the meantime I have some questions for you."

Drake turned her around so that she was facing away from Ethan. She looked him up and down, before lifting her chin. "And I You. You are the enforcer for the lord of damnation, correct?"

He narrowed his eyes. "I used to be. Not anymore, and how would you know that?"

"I have learned much from my brief time on earth, nothing meaningful, but still."

"And who exactly are you. I mean I think you said your name but my ears were to busy bleeding to hear."

She shuffled her shoulders nervously. "I apologize. I was trying to scare the demon off. I thought giving him a look at my true self would do the trick."

Drake thought for a moment. "Wait, 'scare him off'? Don't you have the power to destroy him? Ya know, angel?"

Her gaze dipped to the ground. "Well… not technically. I'm a soul keeper, I guard and monitor the souls of heaven. I'm a little low on the power scale."

Drake snorted a laugh. "So you were just bluffing?"

She shrugged. "He didn't know that. I told you I've learned much while on earth."

"Apparently," he grinned, "now what are you doing here on earth?"

"That I cannot answer. I am here on a mission from heaven and cannot stray… although I strayed slightly when I heard the calls of the distressed souls. Once they were released from the darkness I heard their cries, thus I came to set them free."

He raised a brow, only believing a portion of her story, but before he could question her further she shot another one. "Do you know if your master has been pilfering souls from the vaults of heaven?"

Drake narrowed his eyes, snorting smoke in contempt. "He hasn't been, nor ever was, my 'master'." He growled. "Secondly, no. He can't go into heaven without bursting into flames." Then he registered what exactly she had asked. "Has someone been stealing souls?"

She flushed, mentally cursing herself for giving away the context of her mission. She cleared her throat and lifted her chin. "That is classified…. but yes. Someone has been taking souls. My first guess was the demon lord, but if you are unaware then I must continue elsewhere."

Once again Drake found it hard to believe her. He felt as if she was keeping something from him, but in her defense they didn't know each other and she didn't owe him anything.

"However," she continued, "I could use some help if you'd be able."

He chuckled. "If it's all the same to you, I'm not really in the mood to assist in another 'other worldly' mission." He pulled out a small card and handed it to her. "However if you do need help, just contact me."

She took the card, examining it between her fingertips. "What is this? What are these numbers?"

He sighed. _Well this is gonna be fun._

— _ **:0:—**_

Monti had seen it with his own two eyes and yet he still couldn't believe it. First a demon had taken souls, then the Lord of Hell came and kicked the crap out of him, finally a friggen angel came out of nowhere to send him back to hell. Oh and to top it all off Dragons existed too.

 _Did the Bible just come to life in front of me?!_

He must have appeared severely distraught because the next thing he was aware of was someone snapping their brown gloves fingers in his face.

"Hey Monti, you in there?" He looked up from his daze at Terra who appeared worried for his mental state.

He raised his thumbs into the air. "Super-duper. As well as can be expected after just learning that Angels, Dragons and demons exist. Oh boy I'm gonna need a drink after this."

She twisted her face as if feeling his pain. "Yeah it's kind of a lot to take in. It gets better though."

He let out a half hearted chuckle. "I-if you say so." She helped him to his feet so he could assess the damage done to the precinct. "I think I need to check on the Captain, and you guys need to get going?"

Following his line of sight, Drake was speaking with the angel, looking frustrated for some reason, and Beast Boy was with Ethan. Ethan was beginning to calm down while Beast Boy sat beside him, for emotional support.

"That sounds like a good idea," she agreed, "but what about you?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea. Hopefully the Captain has some clue as to what to do next."

She nodded before getting everyone else's attention. "Guys, we should probably get gone before the cops get back." In agreement Beast Boy helped get Ethan to his feet, while Drake finished speaking to the angel. "Just keep us posted on what's going on."

She began to head for the doors when he called after her. "Yeah no worries, I'll be sure to let you know when I see you again," a pause, "or next Friday night!" She wasn't that far away from him, yet he still felt the need to yell. She was stunned by his sudden outburst, and took her a moment to register what he was asking. Once her brain caught up, she offered a smile. "Sure."

— _ **:0:—**_

 **Titans East Tower**

Beast Boy stared aimlessly over the railing indoor/outdoor pool beneath him. Looking just as melancholy was Ethan sitting beside the pool watching the waves from the ocean outside flow in and out. Beast Boy let out a long sigh, his soul once again burdened with the heaviness of what he had done. Behind him at the Titans control table, Terra sat staring at the back. He knew she was concerned about him, but had no idea how to help him, not like he wanted it anyways. He hadn't spoken to her, nor did he feel like talking to anyone.

His ears twitched when the elevator doors dinged open. Drake had been busy checking on the other Titan East members who had been unconscious this entire time.

"How are they?" he heard Terra ask. He didn't bother turning around as they spoke with each other.

"They were hit pretty hard with magic that knocked them out cold." Drake responded. "I've given them a counter spell so they'll all wake up in the morning. What about you?"

For a moment she said nothing. "Monti and Charlene are alright, although she's going to be busy finding out which of her officers she can trust."

Drake got a bit quieter but Beast Boy was still able to hear them just fine. "Good, but not really what I was asking."

"O-oh, um…" Beast Boy's back tensed as if he could feel them staring at him. "Captain Deblase is holding John Deleheart who admitted to orchestrating the attack on Emily and the two officers. Some kind of wild animal he had under his control."

Beast Boy's head hung lower off of his shoulders. He had gotten away with murder.

The guilt was squeezing his insides so hard he didn't even notice Drake join him at the railing.

"Look, Gar—"

"Don't… just… don't."

Drake muttered a "fine" and didn't press the issue. A few minutes of silence later, Drake turned to him. "Why don't you take some time off."

Forgetting his guilt for a moment, Beast Boy glanced at him. "'Time off'?"

Drake clarified. "R&R, a break, whatever you wanna call it, just get outta here. Take some time."

Beast Boy was still confused. "B-But—"

"I'll finish stuff up here, and I'll deal with Robin, all you have to do is get outta here. I hear San Francisco is nice this time of year."

Hearing the words "San Francisco" made his heart jump with excitement, but he was being cautious. "Are you sure? Wha-what am I gonna say?"

Drake grabbed him by his shoulder and spun him so they faced each other. "I will take care of everything. All you have to do is," he counted on his fingers, "never speak of this again, and go to Ravens and clear your head. That's it." Once again his heart jumped excitedly, but he couldn't silence the nagging in his gut. Seeing him hesitate, Drake continued. "Do you trust me? Then trust me on this."

It took Beast Boy a few minutes, but finally gave a curt nod. Drake patted him on his back. "Alright then. Now get outta here. Take your pod and go surprise your girl…. what?"

Beast Boy was staring at him with a large goofy grin. "I have this overwhelming urge to hug you."

"Please don—" Beast Boy had already wrapped his arms around him, but rather then fight it, Darke allowed it.

"Okay… Yup… uh huh… alright that's enough."

He shook his head in his chest. "No." But he released him when Drake grabbed the point of his ear and twisted. "Okay! Okay! Okay! Uncle!" Once Drake has released him, he took off to the roof to the pods.

 **-:0:-**

"Was that a good idea?" Terra asked. "Letting him go off like that?"

Drake shrugged. "Raven will help him through this more than I ever could." He looked back at her. "I think that's something we can both agree on."

She watched him curiously for a moment, but before she could press the issue further her communicator began to ring. She answered the device using the cell phone function. "This is Terra." With each second that she listened to whoever was on the other end of the call her eyes grew rounder and wider. "Uh… Okay, um, thanks Monti." She disconnected the call. "Mayor Rasmussen was found hanging from his study. A note on his deck describing everything in detail. Deals, murder, everything except the demon stuff."

Drake took in the information, but remained impassive. He looked as if he was about to say something, but Instead he moved past Terra to the elevator. He took it down to the ground floor where Ethan had been sitting beside the pool. Truthfully he had a lot to say about Rasmussen and his choice, nothing he wanted to say in front of Terra.

Coming to the ground floor He made his way to Ethan at the pool, making sure to keep his distance as he sat down.

As soon as his behind touched the ground, Ethan asked, "When do we leave?"

Drake looked at him with curiosity. "I wasn't sure what your plans were? Should we—"

"I don't have anything left. No family, possessions, nothing, this is…" his bottom lip began quivering and he didn't take his eyes off the water, "I have… nowhere to go."

Drake could understand where he was coming from, but something was still nagging at him with Ethan's response. "I don't want you to feel like you HAVE to come with me. I want you to feel like this is your choice, not your final option."

Ethan shouted with agitation. "This is my only option—"

"I get why you feel that way, but do you want to come with me AND learn how to be a Dragon Knight? Or are you just coming because you have nowhere to go. Like I said, I can teach you, but whether or not you want to take on the title of knight and everything that comes with it is up to you."

Ethan glanced away from the water. His eyes were red, puffy and wet, but were blazing with fire when he responded, "Than teach me."

 _ **-:0:-**_

 **San Francisco**

"... _Hello from the outside_

 _At least I can say that I've tried_

 _To tell you I'm sorry for breaking your heart_

 _But it don't matter, it clearly doesn't tear you apart anymore…"_

The music faded into the background, leaving only Raven at the front of the living room with a microphone and thunderous applause form her adoring fans.

"I didn't know you could sing?!" Mary-Beth squealed.

Raven set the microphone down and scurried down from the front of the room to sit beside her, "I don't. This was a one time thing so don't tell anyone got it." Mary-Beth waved off her threat, knowing Raven wouldn't even think of harming her, and truth be told Raven was actually enjoying herself. Never in a thousand years did she ever think she'd say anything like that about "karaoke night".

"Alright who's next?" Aunt Alice asked, as she eyeballed her husband Jack.

Bouncing his baby girl on his lap and announced, "I think it's Baby Jessica's turn!"

Ravens entire family burst into cheers causing Baby Jessica to start clapping and babbling excitedly. Jack took her to the front of the living room, picked up the microphone and placed it in her hands. No surprise to anyone when instead of singing, she opted to suck on the cold metal instead.

Laughing, her family didn't seem to notice the knocking coming from the door.

"I'll get it!" Raven got up from her seat and headed for the door. She was curious to see who could possibly be at their door at this hour, but living in the suburbs had taught her that it usually wasn't a hardened villain bent on her destruction.

Though the person at the door wasn't someone to worry about, she was completely surprised by who it was.

"Gar?" Familiar green skin, and that goofy grin, warmed her heart so much she couldn't help but wrap her arms around his neck. "What are you doing here? Robin give you some time off or something?"

When the hug separated, her smile dropped when she saw his face. She knew his smiles by heart, and right now he was using his "forced smile", that smile he used when he was hiding something. Usually, and not surprisingly, hiding pain.

"Well not exactly." He said dryly.

She looked st him with worry. "Gar? What's wrong?"

His forced smile wavered. "I… um… I did something Rae…"

To overcome he hurried his face into the crook of her neck and began to quietly weep. "It's okay," she whispered, not knowing the full extent of his pain, "Come inside. We'll talk."

He nodded, and with their hands together she led him into her families home.

 **And that's it. Drake as a new ward, Beast Boy is off with his lady love, alls well that ends well.**

 **As I mentioned before, I'm going to be taking some time off from the fandom, I'll still be reading your awesome works, and doing some writing of my own, just taking a break from this fandom is all. Check out some of the frozen stuff I've been doing, could use some loving over there. And of course I'll be working on the book I keep putting off.**

 **When I come back to Teen Titans though I have some fun stuff planned, so stick around! Thank you so much for the favs and reviews and we'll see ya next time.**


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